SGD Season One
by Chris7221
Summary: AU starting from late season 7. A devastating attack reveals the Stargate to the world, bringing the full force of Earth's might in the form of the newly formed AESF to bear on the galaxy.
1. Introduction

SGD is basically a "what if" alternate version of SG-1 and Atlantis from Season 8/Season 1 onwards. What if they had developed armour that didn't suck? What if they disclosed the Stargate program? What if Earth had been viciously attacked? Basically, it's Stargate the way I think it should have gone. Sort of. It's a bit Earthwank, but not as much as the original concept called for (see below).

Stargate Domination originally started as a total Earthwank fic with deliberately bad (or at least lazy) writing. Primary inspirations included Rise of the Tau'ri, Birth of a Federation and the crossover Reaper's Origin. Over the development process, it evolved into something else. It still continues to evolve, with newer episodes deviating further and further from canon. Season two will basically throw the canon storyline out the window, abandon the episodic format and widen the scope. It will probably abbreviate to SGD as well, reflecting the change from the original intention.

There was originally a massive list of units and such here. It's horribly outdated now, and I've ditched it. If you want more in-depth descriptions, you can read the "enhanced" version over on Spacebattles.


	2. SG1 Heroes

Heroes

This would make a lot more sense if you've seen the actual episode.

* * *

Since the President's term was almost up, he had decided to have a film made about the SGC. It was not something Colonel O'Neill liked. For that matter, it wasn't something anyone on the base liked. Sure, it was supposed to be kept secret, but reporters of any sort weren't well liked in the SGC, both for their annoying presence and what they signified. It was inevitable that the Stargate Program would be disclosed, but they sure as hell didn't want it to happen now.

Sam was enjoying it, sort of. Maybe it was just an excuse to show off her new toy. She was clad head to toe in futuristic armor. Covering most of her body were plates made of an advanced polymer. Her face was mostly visible through the clear full-face visor. The whole suit was an ugly camouflage finish that was supposed to work in any terrain type. She turned to face the cameras.

"This is the Aegis Mark one personal protective system. On the outside are advanced plates made of an advanced polymer composite that can absorb the energy of a staff weapon blast and stop high-powered rifle cartridges, including armor piercing ones. These fabric parts in between aren't as weak as it may seem- they are also capable of stopping staff weapon blasts and armor-piercing bullets. Below all of it is a phase-changing layer that instantly hardens upon impact- absorbing and distributing the energy."

"It looks heavy," said the reporter/filmmaker/documentrician/whatever fancy term he had applied to himself.

"It is. In fact, this suit weighs more than a human can comfortably carry. However, I can actually move faster with it on. The key is a technology similar to muscle wire- but also very different. It's hard to explain, but suffice to say my movements are amplified in strength and speed. It's an odd feeling at first, but you get used to it.

"In addition, the suit is sealed against CBRN- that's chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear. That means that we wouldn't need hazmat suits anymore. It also has an independant air supply and thermal regulation for use in space- and underwater I suppose. The full-face visor is a bit of a weakness, but it was determined to be less intimidating, which is important for things like first-contact and negotiations. We spent a lot of time working on it, and developed a transparent polymer that can take a .50 BMG round and still be reasonably thin. I can polarize the faceplate," she demonstrated it, "as well. What you can't see is the heads-up display, like in a videogame. The suit is equipped with a sophisticated sensor system and interlinked combat computers. We're hoping to go to a full neural interface soon, but for now, we're stuck with voice commands."

"The Aegis mark one is equipped with integrated waste collection systems, as well as a water supply with nutrient injection. It's not even an MRE, but it works surprisingly well. Now, onto the actual test. So far we haven't been able to get the shields working properly-"

"Wait, shields?"

"Sure. The problem is that they aren't stable. One hit from a staff weapons or a few bullets and you're shields are down. Watch." Carter pushed a few buttons on a wrist-mounted interface- unnecessary, but more dramatic. About fifteen seconds later, a blue aura surrounded her then disappeared. Walter picked up the staff weapon and fired it, hitting her in the middle of the chest. The shields flashed bright blue on impact then failed altogether, causing a warning tone to sound inside her helmet. "As you can see, they're only good for one hit, then you're down to just the armor. It'll probably take a few more to penetrate the suit, depending on how good the enemy can aim. It's far better than a plate carrier, though. Even the specially made plates could only absorb one hit, and not reliably."

"So, uh, how many of these do you have around?"

"Well, they're brand new, and custom fitted to the user, in addition to being extremely expensive. Eventually we hope to equip all SG teams-" she paused. "I'm sorry, I have to go. Right now." She left and headed toward the armory.

"Does she always-"

"Oh yeah, it happens all the time."

* * *

"I don't know Sam, this doesn't feel right. Shouldn't one of the soldiers get it?"

"Janet, the suits are fitted individually to the wearer. Even if you could- we need you."

"All right, but I don't have to feel good about it." She began putting on the Aegis combat armor. As it was quite heavy, the plates would have to be put on after the inner suit was donned.

Since Sam was demonstrating, hers was already on, but the rest of SG-1 were still struggling. Though they had run tests before, this was the first actual offworld mission. They were running into an ambush, and they needed every advantage they could get. She put a tactical vest on over her suit. That was one problem- they hadn't figured out a decent way to integrate pockets and pouches to store things in. However, she didn't need to carry food, water, or a radio. Most of the pockets were taken up by 30-round magazines for her SCAR-H rifle. That was one advantage of the Aegis armor- one could carry a more powerful weapon and still have more ammo on hand. Theoretically at least, she could dual-wield M249 Squad Automatic Weapons as if they were pistols, but it still wouldn't be easy to hit anything. The remaining pockets were loaded with hand grenades and magazines for the standard-issue M9 pistol.

* * *

On the other side of the gate it was chaotic. Death gliders and Al'kesh flew above, and staff weapon bolts filled the air. Colonel O'Neill rushed up to Colonel Dixon, the leader of SG-13 who had been ambushed by Jaffa. He wondered what was with the armor- but now was not the time to wonder. "Sir! We can't hold this position for much longer!"

"I still need more time to stabilize him!" Dr. Fraiser's voice crackled over the radio. Daniel was with her, but Carter and Teal'c were with him defending the ruins.

"They didn't start showing up till you came through the gate! I think they're throwing a party in your honor, sir!" Dixon stuck his head above the rock and fired his M4, taking down a Jaffa.

Carter dropped to one knee behind a broken piece of stone pillar, took aim, and exploded the head of a Jaffa with a three-round burst. She shifted fire to another Jaffa and let loose another three-round burst. Damn, the newfound sense of invulnerability could be dangerous- or advantageous. Before, she would just fire full-auto burst after full-auto burst. Now, she was accurate but still fast. This method was, ironically, probably safer or at least more efficient. She swapped magazines again and pulled back on the charging handle.

"All right, he's stable, we can move him-" As soon as Janet had finished saying that, a staff blast hit her in the back. She looked down, expecting to have a hole in her chest, expecting to be dead. A screeching tone in her ears indicated that her shields were down. "Thank you, Sam," she whispered, scarcely believing she was still alive.

Daniel brought her out of her reverie. "We've got to go, now!"

"Right." She pulled out her M9 pistol.

"We're pulling back to the gate!" yelled O'Neill. No sooner had Sam heard that then a staff blast hit her in the shoulder, dropping her shields. She heard a scream to her right. Colonel Dixon had been hit and was now lying on the ground, screaming. A staff blast narrowly missed her head as she got up and began running toward the downed colonel. Teal'c and O'Neill covered her as the rest began to retreat. Carter took another hit to her hip as she grabbed Dixon and dragged him over her shoulder. As she began running toward the Stargate, another shot hit her in the back. She almost tripped over with the force, and felt a slight warm sensation. She ran faster than she ever had before, even with the limp body over her shoulder, and made it back to the gate in seconds. She barely noticed that they had left a few people, presumably dead, behind.

* * *

Yep, I edited it. I know it's a pretty inconclusive chapter now, but the awkward ending was just plain awkward and poorly written. I could rewrite it, but it was unnecessary and didn't really add anything.

ORIGINAL NOTES:

Okay, whew. That was the first time I've written something this crazy. Yes, it seems cheap. The conversation at the end I'm not happy with- it's awkward and OOC. It was never intended this way, but the whole chapter seemed to center around Sam. Despite how bad the writing may seem, it was originally intended to have less detail. Anyway, next chapter will probably skip Resurrection and Inauguration and skip to Lost City.


	3. SG1 Lost City Part 1

Resurrection and Inaugeration have happened, but I haven't bothered to rewrite them- maybe later. Season 7 is really more of a prologue than anything.

I promise an original episode after this and New Order.

* * *

"You're an hour late, sir." Carter said as O'Neill arrived in the briefing room. SG-1 and SG-3 were already there.

"As you already know, sir," began the Colonel Reynolds the leader of SG-3, "We've found another Ancient repository on P3X-439. Unfortunately, we found Goa'uld reconnaissance probes on the planet, which means Anubis probably already knows about it."

General Hammond continued, "Let me be clear on this, Colonel. You are to find the repository and retrieve it. Under no circumstances are you to activate the device. We don't have much time, as Anubis is probably on his way. I'm sending SG-3 and SG-5 with you- they're both fully equipped with the Aegis armor and new SCAR rifles. Good luck."

* * *

"All clear for now, sir," Colonel Reynolds told O'Neill.

"Hold the gate until we get back."

"Yes sir."

"Sir, I'm detecting an energy reading, but I don't see it around here anywhere," Carter said. They had reached the monument without incident, but the repository wasn't where it should be.

Daniel examined the inscriptions on the wall. He pressed a few. "If I'm right..." He was. The device appeared, startling Sam who was standing right in front of it.

"I don't know how to get it out, sir. I'm not sure if there is a way," Carter said as she examined the device.

"Just grab it and tear it out of the wall! You're super-strong for crying out loud!" As O'Neill finished saying that Death Gliders and Al'Kesh started to appear and attack the SG teams guarding the gate.

"Even if I could do it, sir, it would probably damage the device beyond repair!" Carter yelled, grasping her SCAR-H rifle with her right hand. "Jaffa incoming!" she yelled, firing one-handed and still trying to figure out the device.

"Sir! We're being hit on all sides!" Colonel Reynolds yelled through the radio. He dropped down behind the DHD and reloaded his rifle. His shields were down and he had already taken one hit to the shoulder. "Make it quick, colonel!" he yelled as he leaned around the DHD to fire at a group of three Jaffa, taking them all down with a dozen shots.

"Get the C4, we're going to have to blow the device," O'Neill said.

"No! Jack, we can't just destroy it like that. I can use the device-" Daniel was cut off.

"We'll need you to translate whoever goes Ancient, Carter's too valuable, and it won't work with Teal'c. I'll do it... again. You might have to carry me back to the gate." He pulled off his helmet, took a deep breath and shoved his head into the device. After the device had finished, he collapsed.

"Teal'c, carry him!" Carter yelled, planting C4 on the device and sticking O'Neill's helmet back on his head. "We have to get back to the gate, move! Colonel Reynolds, hold the gate!"

"I don't know how long I can do that major!" he yelled back. To his right, Corporal Mehra stood directly in the path of a strafing glider, firing a massive M2HB machine gun. The glider exploded midair, but not before Mehra took several hits from the powerful staff cannons. "Corporal, drop that thing and get through the gate!"

SG-1 was moving as fast as they could, but O'Neill was weighing them down significantly. Daniel judged that he could have gone back to the gate and then back to the monument by now. Sam had lost her shields to a death glider and was now unloading the last of her 7.62mm ammunition into a pair of Jaffa. They were almost at the gate now being covered by Reynolds's team. Sam was down to a pistol and Teal'c's staff weapon, an awkward combination. She was the last through the gate, covering everyone else. A Death Glider flew directly at her, and she fired both weapons as she jumped through the gate, getting hit once in the shoulder before making it through.

* * *

"Close the iris!" Hammond yelled as Carter flew through the gate. It was an almost comical sight, flying backward through the gate, clutching a staff weapon in one hand and a USP .45 in the other, several burn marks evident on the normally grey-green armor. SG-3 and -5 had made it back okay- a few minor injuries but the Aegis armor system worked remarkably well. Mehra was the worst off, suffering burns to the leg, the powerful rounds having burned through the trinium-composite armor.

But Colonel O'Neill was unconcious- "SG-1, I want a debriefing, now."

* * *

It was not a happy debriefing. Though they had removed their helmets, they hadn't bothered changing out of their now damaged armor. O'Neill didn't arrive until halfway through, complaining of a massive "fron-ache". He had the knowledge of the Ancients in his head, meaning he would soon lose the ability to speak anything but Ancient, and the information would eventually overload his brain, killing him.

"Sir, I'd like the weekend off, to get some personal things in order."

Hammond thought about it for a moment. "Go ahead."

* * *

O'Neill had gone home to relax and ponder his situation. Soon, Sam, then Teal'c and Daniel had joined him. They were all sitting around drinking beer and debating whether Mr. Burns was a Goa'uld or not when the doorbell rang. O'Neill answered it.

"General?" It was General Hammond. "Come in, sir."

He sat down and grabbed a beer. "I'm afraid I'm the bearer of bad news. I'm being reassigned- scheduled to be in Washington by the end of the weekend. The SGC is now under the command of Dr. Elizabeth Weir."

"Doesn't she do high-level negotiations for the UN?" asked Daniel, "Hardly the right person for the job."

"Yes, well I suspect Kinsey has something to do with this."

"Don't worry, sir," O"Neill said, "We've been through similar situations before."

"It's different this time, Jack. In any case, you're still scheduled to return on Monday."

* * *

On Monday, Jackson walked into the briefing room to find a brunette woman talking over a headset. Moments later she finished and faced Daniel.

"You must be Dr. Weir," Daniel extended his hand, "Dr. Daniel Jackson, but, uh, everyone just calls me Daniel."

"I've heard a lot about you, Dr. Jackson. That said, I haven't got the warmest welcome here."

"Well, you are anti-military, and General Hammond was a great man. If you want respect here, you're going to have to earn it." An awkward pause.

"I know that, doctor. If we can end proliferation-"

"Do you think the Goa'uld care about that? This isn't the UN. Dial a planet, any planet, and you'll see what I-"

"Unscheduled offworld activation!" They rushed down the stairs to the control room. "Receiving Bra'tac's IDC!"

* * *

"Has Hammond of Texas fallen in battle?" Bra'tac asked upon seeing Dr. Weir.

"No, there's been some internal changes. Politics." she added.

"I see," He did not. "Anubis prepares to attack as we speak." They headed for the briefing room.

"Anubis' full force will arrive in three days, where we believe he will gather the whereabouts of the Lost City."

"I don't buy it." Kinsey said. "I think you'd say anything to resume stargate operations."

"Perhaps we should negotiate with Anubis," Weir interjected.

"That would be derantis." O'Neill said.

"Derantis?"

"Uh, crazy, insane." Daniel explained.

"That's what I said. Derantis!"

"You do realize you said it again, right, Jack?" He turned to Kinsey and Weir, "Look, he doesn't have much time, and we're going to be invaded in three days. We have to find the Lost City."

"That's a legend, Doctor, nothing more." Kinsey told him.

"Actually, maybe not. I wouldn't count on it, but we should keep it in mind." Dr. Weir said.

* * *

Bra'tac and Teal'c would return to Chulak in the hopes of procuring warriors and ships to defend Earth.

"Teal'c, if I don't see you again-" O'Neill began.

"We will meet again, O'Neill," Teal'c assured him before walking through the Stargate.

* * *

That was possibly the most boring thing I've ever written. I pretty much rehashed the episode, poorly. There really isn't much else I can do- Lost City will happen pretty much as it should. New Order I'll have the opportunity to change a few things, and I think I'll do a completely original episode after that.


	4. SG1 Lost City Part 2

This is basically where the universe starts diverging significantly from canon.

Some enjoy listening to music while reading. I recommend "SOCOM 3 – Assault Theme" or the second part of "The Rock Original Soundtrack – Movietheme #2" for this chapter.

* * *

_Stargate Command_

Daniel snatched the crossword puzzle out of Jack's hands. "Wait a minute... Proclarush, Taonas, sounds Ancient. "Taonas, sphere, Proclarush, label. The name of a planet." He grabbed a book and opened it. "Uhhh, Proclarush Taonas, means lost in fire. That's nice, but we have no idea where it is."

O'Neill pushed an SGC patch toward him. "At," he said. He repeated it. "At."

"The symbol? It's called At?"

"At."

"So maybe each symbol has a syllable pronounciation," he quickly drew Canis Minor.

"Shh," O'Neill responded.

"We may not have to look through a list of addresses- the name is the address."

He went to the control room. "Proclarush Taonas. It's the address. You see, each symbol each has a syllable pronounciation-"

Carter took a look at the address. "We've tried that one- we couldn't get a lock."

"Well maybe there's some sort of special protection- or maybe it's inaccessible now."

"We can't afford to send the Prometheus," Dr. Weir said, "It's the only thing between Anubis and Earth."

"Maybe Teal'c and Bra'tac have a ship," Carter suggested, "We should go to Chulak."

* * *

A while later they went to Chulak and met up with Teal'c. He was with Bra'tac and another Jaffa. "This is Ronan," he told them, "He has agreed to provide us with a Tel'tak cargo ship under the condition that he come with us."

They boarded the Tel'tak. "At top speed, we should be at Taonas within two days," Bra'tac said.

O'Neill muttered something along the lines of "Not fast enough" and went to do something to the engines.

* * *

_White House Stituation Room_

"Mr. President, three Ha'taks have dropped out of hyperspace over the moon," General Hammond informed President Hayes.

"Very well." It wasn't. This was a moment he was hoping would never come. But it did, and they would have to be as ready as they could be. "Bring us to DEFCON 1. Inform the governments of Russia, China, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Japan, and Israel. This is it, gentlemen. I am under no illusions. We probably won't win this, but we'll give them a hell of a fight. I have one hell of a speech to make."

"Sir, we have to get you to the-"

"Forget it, George, I'm staying. The bunker will have to be good enough." Built a few years prior, the bunker under the White House was equipped for specifically this eventuality.

* * *

_USS Normandy CG-60_

The _Normandy_ was a ship of moderate age, commisioned in 1989. She was part of the new batch of Ticonderoga-class Aegis missile cruisers with VLS tubes. The Aegis missile system was ancient technology, still among the best in the world but the Compaq computers the crew used during their free time were far more advanced.

Captain Jason S. Thornhill had heard rumours of an upgrade to the missile system- from what he gathered the money had been allocated but nothing ever came of it. He grumbled. How typical- it probably all got sucked up by bureaucrats.

Right now the _Normandy_ was part of Carrier Strike Group Eleven, sailing with the USS _Nimitz_, several escorts including another Aegis cruiser, and oilers to replenish their fuel. They were headed into the Pacific to conduct exercises. Things had calmed down and there wasn't much action to be had these days.

"Captain, receiving FLASH-priority traffic," the radioman called.

He moved aft to the radio room. "Let me see." He held the decoded message in one hand and his mug of coffee in the other. What he read caused him to drop the mug of coffee, smashing on the deck.

"Sir, are you all right?"

"We got an honest-to-God alien invasion on our hands."

"Sir-"

"I'm not joking, Tom. Put me on the 1MC."

"Now hear this. We've got a real alien invasion on our hands. This is not a joke, people. We don't have time for details, but they have interstellar starships, and space-capable fighters capable of at least transonic speeds. From this point on, the entire United States military is at DEFCON 1. You know what that means.

"General quarters. All hands to battle stations!"

* * *

_USS Tennessee SSBN-734_

The crew was still shocked. Invaders from outer space? The Captain knew a little more, but not much. The _Tennessee_ was equipped with a top-secret missile system ostensibly intended to destroy asteroids, but the Captain was a bit of a conspiracy theorist, and suspected otherwise. Though he didn't know it, four other submarines were also equipped with the missile system.

The Hydra missile was a single-warhead missile, capable of submerged-to-orbit firing and carrying a high-megaton or possibly multi-gigaton warhead- the estimates varied. The Tennessee carried twenty-four. How many would be required to destroy a Ha'tak?

Frankly, it scared the shit out of him that he'd be the one giving the order to fire.

* * *

_White House Command Bunker_

Things were going according to plan. There was surprisingly little bickering among the nations of the world. Even countries like China, who didn't exactly like the US, went along with the plan. Nobody particularily wanted to re-enact War of The Worlds, especially the part where the cities were razed to the ground.

The sky was almost literally filled with fighters, tankers and AWACS craft. At sea, naval forces went to full alert. The Hydra missile system was ready but Hayes doubted how effective it would be. National Guard units were activated all over the country.

Like it or not, Hayes had a speech to make. General Hammond suggested holding off on launching the Prometheus, and was now waiting somewhere under the Nevada desert.

Simultaneously on almost every TV in the US, the seal of the President of the United States appeared on the screen and then cut to the President sitting at his desk (actually fake- he was in the bunker).

"I don't know how to break the news, but Earth is about to be attacked by aliens.

"For several years now we have been operating something called the Stargate Program. The Stargate is an alien device found under Ancient Egypt that allows instantaneous travel between planets. In secret, we've been out there for years.

"We have made several allies and a few enemies. One of those enemies is the Goa'uld. They are parasitic organisms that inhabit human hosts and pose as gods. They have attempted to attack us before- but this is the first time they have gotten this close.

"Before you denounce the Stargate program, think of the benefits it has brought us. Though you may not know it, revolutions in medicine, electronics, industry- virtually every area- have been brought about either directly or indirectly via the Stargate program.

"Above all it is important that you do not panic. Earth is gearing up to defend itself. We will do our best to protect the planet. If you have a basement or bomb shelter, go to it now. It may be wise to arm yourself if possible. We have a long fight ahead of us, but we will succeed and the Goa'uld will not have Earth."

"Thank you, and best of luck to our servicemen and women out there."

* * *

_Tel'tak in orbit around Proclarush Taonas_

"I can tell why they called it lost in fire," Daniel said.

"One million years ago, it was probably a lot like Earth. Now, the sun is a red giant, and the planet is covered in lava and bombarded with lethal radiation and a toxic atmosphere." Carter explained. "Scan the planet for something resembling a man-made structure."

"There." Teal'c said, pointing to an area on the display, "A cavernous dome underground, probably caused by some sort of shield or force field."

SG-1 was already wearing their Aegis armor. "The radiation is pretty harsh, but we won't be staying for long so it should be okay," Carter said, "The air seems to be breathable if it's filtered, so we don't have to worry about that."

* * *

_Proclarush Taonas, under the dome_

"We shouldn't stay too long, sir, the rings may have compromised the dome." O'Neill didn't seem to understand what she had said. He walked over to a throne-like chair. An image of Earth 30 million years ago appeared above their heads. "Terra Atlantus," he said.

"Wait, Atlantis was on Earth the whole time? Jack, why did we come all the way here?"

He didn't answer, but opened a compartment in front of the chair and removed a crystalline object.

"It's a power source," Carter said, examining the readout on her HUD, "An incredibly powerful-" The chamber suddenly began to shake. "Come on, we have to get back to the ship! The cavern is collapsing!"

They ran back to where they were ringed in. "Bra'tac, ring us up!" Static. "Bra'tac, are you there?" Chunks of dome fell all around them, and Carter decided to activate her shields, just in case. Just as they finished charging, the rings activated and she found herself back on the Tel'tak.

Ronan was lying on the floor, dead, Bra'tac clearly alive... barely. He was clutching his stomach, which was bleeding quite badly. It wasn't hard to guess what had happened.

Carter tore open the package of a dressing and applied it to the wound, applying pressure. It was not good. Blood soaked through the dressing and oozed between her gloved fingers.

O'Neill pushed her gently out of the way and held his hand over the wound. It glowed and healed, seemingly by magic. "Amazing. He must have more than just the knowledge of the Ancients!" He swerved, the act clearly draining him.

* * *

_White House Command Bunker_

"Sir, the Ha'taks are taking position in Earth orbit and launching gliders."

Damn it. It had begun. The announcement hadn't caused much panic- but Hayes suspected that was more because of the tanks rolling down the streets than anything. People were scared and hiding for the most part.

"Recommend we start launching the Hydra missiles. Eight to each ship, just to be sure. Mr. President?"

"Go ahead, you know what to do," The president sat down and lit up a cigarette. It was a bad habit, and not a good thing to do in a bunker, but really, who cares when the planet was being invaded by aliens.

* * *

_Ha'tak in orbit over Earth_

"We are detecting over a hundred missiles coming from the planet," Neither him nor the commander of the ship knew that only twenty-four posed a threat. Another twenty-four were purpose-built decoys nearly indistinguishable from the real thing, except they would simply smash into the shields. The others were simply nuclear missiles that may or may not make it all the way into orbit.

"Engage them." The Death Gliders changed course to intercept the missiles. Though Gliders were fairly effective in their own right, they were not equipped to deal with missiles or even decent fighters. Armed with only slow-firing energy cannons and no automated targeting system, Jaffa pilots struggled to hit the fast-moving missiles. In the end, only two had been destroyed. The rest exploded against the shields of the Ha'taks.

The massive explosion could be seen, even felt in the form of infrared radiation, from the surface of Earth. For a moment the sky was orange across nearly a third of the planet. Then there was the shockwave, which was admittedly barely noticeable on the surface. Fighters higher in the atmosphere experienced severe turbulence.

The nuclear weapons had destroyed all three Ha'taks, leaving very broken-up wreckage. In addition, the majority of the Death Gliders were destroyed.

But the battle had only begun.

* * *

Yes, I'm splitting it into not two but three parts! This chapter was a lot more enjoyable, because I actually got to change some things. I realize that a lot of the information is guesswork and probably horribly inaccurate, and I apologize for that. You can see that a lot has gone differently already, and it will only get more and more different. New Order coming up after part 3, then Rising.

And yeah, if you were wondering, I do read a lot of Tom Clancy.


	5. SG1 Lost City Part 3

This is the last part of Lost City, I promise. Don't expect New Order to go as it originally did. It will go significantly different.

Music Suggestions? "The Rock Movietheme #2" or "Ghost Recon- Main Theme". The latter might be a better choice.

* * *

_White House Command Bunker_

"Sir, more ships are exiting hyperspace. Estimates are around thirty motherships, and just under a hundred Tel'tak and Al'kesh."

"Holy shit." The president turned to General Maynard, "I never thought it would end this way."

"It's not over yet, sir."

"And what if we win? The Stargate is no longer a secret. Do you think the world could survive with the threat of-"

Suddenly a hologram of Anubis appeared in the room, causing the Secret Service agents to draw their weapons. "Don't fire!" Maynard yelled.

"I am Anubis," the hologram said, "You are the leader of this world?"

"President Henry Hayes of the United States of America, one nation among many."

"No more. Bow before your god."

"I don't think so. However, I am willing to discuss your surrender."

"If you possessed weapons matching mine, you would have used them!"

"Are you willing to take that chance?"

"You bring destruction upon yourself." The hologram disappeared.

"Sir, enemy ships are taking position around the planet- Gliders, Al'kesh and Tel'taks are inbound."

"Launch the Prometheus and deploy all Hydra missiles. It's time to throw all our chips in."

* * *

_Siberia_

_Starshiy Leytnant_ Boris Riynkov pulled his Su-27SM Flanker into a tight right turn. "Akula flight, enemy fighters inbound, bearing one-one-nine, range thirty-four kilometers," a female voice cracked over the radio.

"Roger that. Akula one, Akula two, activate rader and open fire on my mark." He flipped his radar on, instantly illuminating the gliders. "My God, there are dozens of them!"

"Fire... now!" Riynkov pushed the fire buttons on the stick. Two Rynkov R-27AE medium-long range active radar missiles exploded from underneath the wings, leaving a trail of fire. To his left and right, his wingmen did the same.

He saw several of the craft begin moving erratically on his radar screen moments later. They were now within range of the short-range R-74M missiles. "Fire R-74!" he ordered. A total of twelve erupted from the three planes.

Suddenly what looked like some sort of sci-fi energy bolts started to fill the sky, and the Death Gliders were not far behind them. "_Yob tvoyu maht!_" Riynkov jerked the Flanker hard to the left, narrowly being missed by the energy bolts. Akula Two was not so lucky. "Mayday, mayday... lost engines... going down..." and it cut out. Riynkov hoped Ivanova would be okay, but he had more important things to do. No less than a dozen of the alien fighters swarmed around him. One was headed almost straight for Akula Two. He swerved around, waited for a tone, and triggered off his last two R-74Ms. One missed, but the other hit just off-center on the back of the fighter, destroying it instantly.

An energy bolt smashed into his left wing, triggering several alarms. He ignored them- it was superficial damage and the Flanker could take it. He looked behind, and sure enough there was not one but two gliders on his tail. He reduced throttle and pulled up, effectively braking and stalling the plane, but not before switching to guns and peppering the gliders, sending one to the ground flaming.

As he accelerated and attempted to recover, more of the energy bolts smashed the wing. The left aileron lost hydraulics and began to flap, sending the Flanker into a spin. Ryinkov tried valiantly to recover, further stressing the wing. As his vision began to go black, the damaged wing broke off completely, the rest of the plane quickly following suit.

Akula One blazed through the wreckage on just one engine, rapidly descending. The pilot was hoping to lose the enemy close to the ground- a risky maneuver, but one that would save his life.

* * *

_Anubis's Mothership, Earth Orbit_

"My lord, more of the objects are emerging from the surface. They number in the hundreds."

Anubis had already grown to hate the weapons. Crude but effective. But this time he had a lot more gliders. "Engage them with everything."

More gliders would not prevent the ships from being hit. The attack was more impressive than the prior one from the surface of Earth, but after the flashes, it was revealed that only a handful of ships were destroyed, a few damaged severely, and about a dozen damaged to some lesser degree. Of the 96 missiles launched, less than half had found their targets.

_

* * *

_

White House Command Bunker

"Sir, five ships have been destroyed, four put out of the fight, and eleven have received minor damage."

"Maybe they'll think twice about continuing the-" Suddenly, the room shook, and shook again.

"It seems to have had the opposite effect, sir. They've begun orbital bombardment!"

"SG-1 better get here soon," the President said, "We're out of options, and if they don't, there won't be much left to save."

Almost on cue, "We've detected a hyperspace window over Antarctica. It's SG-1!" He paused. "Sir, Anubis's fleet is moving to intercept."

"Send Prometheus and the F-302s! Whatever they have, it could be our ticket out of this mess!"

"And if it isn't, sir?"

"Then God help us all."

_

* * *

_

Antarctica

"Teal'c, we're going in too hot! Pull up!"

"I am trying Major Carter," he said, both hands gripping the control device as hard as possible. Just meters above the ground, the craft pulled up. "Death Gliders are changing course and moving to our position. I am detecting several other vessels."

"Prometheus!"

As the Tel'tak took position and began burning through the ice with the ring transporter O'Neill had been modifying, the F-302s and Gliders played a deadly game of chicken, launching missiles, firing guns and staff cannons. Several of both exploded and crashed into the icy ground. In the midst of the chaos the Prometheus emerged, firing railguns in all directions, the computerized targeting systems effeciently clearing the skies of enemy Gliders. But as they were destroyed, more came down from the sky.

_

* * *

_

Below The Ice

The rest of SG-1 followed O'Neill. "Dolmata," he said, pointing to a chamber large enough to hold a human.

"Sleep," Daniel translated, and they continued on to a chair similar to the one on Taonas. O'Neill bent down and removed what was clearly a device identical to the one from Taonas.

"That one is pretty much dead," Carter said, "The Colonel must have known that, and retrieved the one from Taonas."

He pushed the new one in, and sat down in the chair, which immediately activated. Just then, the rings activated and five Kull warriors appeared.

Carter brought her SCAR-H rifle up. Below the barrel, in place of a grenade launcher was a version of the Kull disruptor weapon. She fired repeatedly at the Kull. It had little effect, driving them back slightly but they continued advancing. She tossed a grenade around the corner, then two more. It didn't sway the Kull one bit.

"Sir, if you're going to do something, you'd better do it quick!" Sam was about to fire another burst when a Kull came around the corner, right at her. The plasma repeater immediately dropped her shields at point blank. She grabbed the Kull's wrist...

And broke it with a satisfying snap. It wasn't effortless, in fact it took all her strength. Though a Kull was strong, it was no match for her augmented strength. The Kull was bringing up its other weapon when a hole appeared in the floor and bright yellow projectiles began streaming out of it.

As they began swarming the Kull, Carter pushed it away and dove to the floor. The projectiles continued out of the hole in the ice and streamed towards Anubis's fleet.

_

* * *

_

Prometheus

"F-302s have expended all munitions. Shields are failing and we are almost out of missiles and railgun ammo. Wait- I'm detecting massive energy readings from below the ice. Thousands of bright yellow, I don't know, they're coming from the surface. I don't know what they are. They're cutting the enemy fleet to shreds! My God, it's beautiful!" The weapons passed right through the shields of the enemy ships, almost literally ripping them to shreds.

_

* * *

_

White House Command Bunker

"Mr. President, the weapon has destroyed the entirety of Anubis's fleet. There are some Gliders and ground forces, but we should be able to clean those up pretty quickly. It's over, sir."

"Yeah, but there's one hell of a mess to clean up. Both literally and figuratively."

"Yes, sir."

_

* * *

_

Antarctica – Under The Ice

O'Neill staggered out of the chair and nearly collapsed. "You did it Jack," Daniel told him, "Anubis's fleet is destroyed."

"Dolmata," O'Neill said, vaguely gesturing towards the chamber. Sam pulled him over her left shoulder, taking most of his weight, and helped him toward and into the pod.

"Aveo, amacus," he said as the pod froze him in stasis. _Goodbye, my friends._

* * *

And that's the end of Season 7- a very short season! Season 8 SG-1 will be almost completely different, Atlantis Season 1 not as much but it will still differ significantly. As with the last chapter, I kind of rushed this one out, so I may revise it later.


	6. S1E1 New Order Part 1

That's right, new season numbering. This is Episode 1 of Season 1 of SGD. There will be no Atlantis/SG-1; it will all be the same, though some episodes will be more Atlantis- or SG-1-centric than others.

Music Suggestions? Sorry, don't have any this time. The chapter is really too varied to suggest one song.

* * *

_White House Command Bunker_

President Henry Hayes paced the room. It was one hell of a mess.

Washington, Moscow, London, Beijing, almost completely flattened. The White House above him was almost completely destroyed by orbital bombardment. Thankfully they had managed to evacuate their government to a secure location, and so had the British, Chinese, and Russians. Around two dozen major cities, including Hong Kong, Tokyo, Mumbai, and Paris, were badly hit. The Eiffel Tower was destroyed, the Great Wall of China was now full of holes, and ironically the Giza pyramid was no more. Orbital bombardment had hit other cities as well, though reports were sporadic. Worse, the Goa'uld had managed to land enough troops to do some damage to the scattered Earth forces. The fight was almost over now, thankfully. The current death toll was at 300 million and still rising as reports came in. Low estimates for a final number sat at around 500 million, high ones broke the billion mark.

Political shitstorm was an understatement. People were moving beyond the scared shitless stage and into the panicking stage. One of the many TVs in the room was displaying a riot in Shanghai. As Hayes watched, the Chinese soldiers opened fire, spraying their weapons wildly into the crowd. It was getting out of hand. The people were angry, Americans, Brits, Russians, Chinese, everyone. They wanted answers, and they wanted action.

As he watched, General Hammond entered the room. "George! I take it you know what's going on."

"All too well, Mr. President. This is a disaster. I watched a riot on my way in. Like it or not, it's happened, and we have to deal with it before it gets out of hand."

General Maynard interjected, "Ideally, we'll unify the armed forces into one, and the governments as well. But we can't do that yet. Sir, we need to get the support of the other major governments, and we need some powerful press releases. Neither of those are my purview, Mr. President."

"The people whose purview it's under are spread around the US in various bunkers or on another planet," said Hayes, "George, you're the expert on the SGC. Write a speech and deliver it, just a short one to clear up some confusion. What you're allowed to include and what you're not is your discretion. And someone set up a conference call with the heads of state of Russia, China, Japan, India, Britain, France, Germany, Canada- did I forget any?"

"Yes, Israel. I don't recommend leaving them out of the loop, Mr. President."

* * *

_Stargate Command_

"Doctor Weir, we have to go through that gate and contact the Asgard," Carter protested for the fifth time.

"We can't- we have to show our goodwill to the world. After all that's happened. And we don't even know if we'll be able to reach the Asgard."

"What about the cargo ship, then?"

"It probably won't be able to make the journey. I want to help O'Neill as much as you do, but you're just going to have to wait."

She decided to take a different approach. "You know what happened when we disclosed to the other nations, right? The Asgard showed up and if it weren't for them we might not be here now. Maybe they could help us this time, too. Maybe since we've disclosed the Stargate they'll be more open this time."

Weir thought about it for a moment. "All right, you have a go. But Dr. Jackson stays here in case you fail."

* * *

"Unauthorized offworld activation!"

Dr. Weir and Jackson rushed into the control room.

"Receiving some kind of alien message."

Daniel looked at it. "Wow. The system lords want to arrange a meeting. All of them, right now."

"Well, we can't just let them in. Arrange for us to meet at a neutral location and bring them here, I'll inform the president."

* * *

_White House Command Bunker_

At least the riots were starting to calm down a bit. The press releases calmed people down a bit, but it wouldn't rebuild the cities. Martial law was still in effect of course. The EU, Canada, and Japan were supporting the US. Or rather, the set of laws and conditions for the Stargate Program to operate on. Russia and Israel were sitting on the fence, China had rejected it, and they hadn't even been able to contact India.

An oversight council, largely dominated by the US at least initially. George Hammond as head of offworld operations, including the SGC and and the soon-to-be navy, grouped under the Allied Earth Space Forces, or AESF. The SGC commander was to be determined. There wasn't a lot of bureaucracy, but it would come soon. Israel was not really of much consequence, but Russia was the deciding factor. If they played along, China would fall into line. If they didn't, they could end up losing control of the SGC or even ending up in a nuclear war.

"Sir, the System Lords want to negotiate a treaty with us. They just arrived at the SGC, sir."

"What do they want, George?"

"We don't know yet, sir, but we think it has something to do with the Ancient weapon."

"All right, keep me posted."

* * *

_Stargate Command_

Weir watched as the Goa'uld walked through the gate. Daniel pointed out which was which. "That one's Camulus, I believe related to Greek mythology. Amaterasu, connected with Japanese legend. And the last one is Yu. Every possible joke has been made, don't bother. He is either the Jade Emperor or Yu the Great of Chinese legend, possibly both. Remember, for the most part the Goa'uld spawned the legend, though some minor ones took on personas of existing legends."

They headed down to the conference room to greet them.

Camulus began as soon as they arrived. "Your unexpected defeat of Anubis has created an unstable situation among the System Lords. To avoid open war, we have reached an agreement to divide his empire evenly. Unfortunately, one of us has broken that agreement."

"Let me guess," Daniel began but was interrupted by Amaterasu.

"Ba'al."

Camulus continued. "He was able to acquire the location of the planet where the Kull Warriors are created, and taken it for himself. Ba'al has gained significant power over as of late." He paused for dramatic effect. "And he intends to break the Protected Planets Treaty."

* * *

_Halla System_

Sam checked the seals on her armor. The ship was falling apart and it was amazing they had made it. That said, she didn't particularly want to suffocate when they were so close. Even with the rebreather pack it would only buy them under an hour, but it was better than nothing.

"Major Carter, our engines are burned out and we are being pulled towards the sun at a rapid rate."

She hoped it wasn't what she thought it might be. "Teal'c, swing us around." Halla's sun had collapsed into a black hole. "Uh, we need to get out of here, now."

"Engines are unresponsive. We are losing hull integrity."

Carter pulled out a tray of crystals. "Because they're totally fried."

The ship began to creak and alarms started sounding. She pulled on her helmet and desperately tried to fix the engines. They were beamed out right before the ship was torn apart.

* * *

_The Daniel Jackson_

"Thor! Great timing."

"I apologize that we were not able to arrive sooner. We have been monitoring this area for some time now."

"What happened to the sun?" Carter asked, pulling off the now-unnecessary helmet.

"We estimated that the human-form replicators would reach the time-dilation device within two years. A more permanent solution was devised." He was interrupted by a beeping from the console. "The replicators seem to have reverse engineered the device. A large mass is escaping from the accretion disc of the black hole."

"How is that possible?" Carter asked.

"Can we destroy it?" Teal'c asked.

Thor moved a few of the Asgard stones around. "Weapons are ineffective." The ship shook and there was more beeping. "A replicator projectile has breached our shields. It it likely that we have been boarded."

"Can you get us out of here?" Carter asked, already fastening her helmet back on and heading towards the supplies Thor had brought on board.

"I still have control of the ship for the moment. Entering hyperspace."

Carter handed Teal'c a shotgun and grabbed an M4 for herself, slamming a 100-round C-mag in. "Let's go."

Teal'c peered around the corner. Sure enough, there were replicators there making the distinctive clicking noise. He immediately opened fire and Sam did the same. They were relatively easy to destroy. Neither of them particularly wanted to find out if the replicators could penetrate their shields and armor.

* * *

_Stargate Command_

For hours this insolent Tau'ri had been spewing about how they didn't want anything they had to offer. "We want Ba'al's territory," she said for the seventeenth time (Camulus wasn't very good at math, but she did repeat it a lot).

"That is unacceptable," Camulus repeated again, anger on the edge of his voice, "Ba'al's territory will be divided up as is fair!"

"We will contact our allies," Yu said, "We will not give you Anubis' territory!"

"You mean Ba'al." Daniel said.

* * *

_The Daniel Jackson_

"All right, that's the last of them!" Carter said, reloading her gun as the last blip disappeared from the motion tracker on her HUD. They headed back up to the bridge.

"The replicator ship is on a course towards Orilla," Thor told them, "I have warned our people and six O'Neill class warships have been tasked to intercept. We will arrive shortly."

Shortly after they exited hyperspace the replicator ship exited as well. The O'Neill-class vessels easily dispatched the ship, destroying it in seconds.

"So, is that it?" Carter asked.

"No," Thor said in a matter-of-fact tone, "Replicator blocks are raining down on Orilla. We must go to Earth and retrieve O'Neill. His Ancient knowledge may prove useful against the replicators."

"Indeed," said Teal'c, raising an eyebrow.

* * *

_Stargate Command_

Daniel Jackson read over the message the System Lords had sent. They were about to leave through the gate when he shut it down.

"What is this?" Camulus demanded angrily.

"We read your message," Daniel said, "Sending a ship to attack Earth. Well, will they still do it with you here?"

"Put them under arrest," ordered Weir, "You're not going anywhere."

* * *

This chapter wasn't that fun to write. Again, mostly rewriting SG-1, poorly. The politics part was fun, though I'm not that good at it. Coming soon: A return to a world thought destroyed, and a reporter joins the ranks of the SGC.


	7. S1E2 Alliances Part 2

SGD Season 1 – Episode 2: Alliances Part 2

No, that's not a mistake. There are actual several episodes of SG-1 and Atlantis with parts having different names. It carries over into SGD.'

Music Suggestions? Halo 3 - To The Citadel, maybe. Or better yet, watch the SGD trailer at www (dot) youtube (dot) com (slash) watch?v=ds1o3el6lyU

* * *

_Daniel Jackson_

A blurry image of an Asgard filled the screen. It was a transmission from Penegal on the surface of Asgard. "We cannot evacuate- the Replicators have already invaded key systems. I do not know how much longer-"

"Are we still heading back to Earth?" Carter asked.

"Yes," Thor said, "Staying here would accomplish nothing. Our technology is useless against the Replicators."

* * *

_White House Command Bunker_

"The fact is, gentlemen, that we cannot just idly stand by and argue! All over the world, people are in a state of shock, millions are dead, cities are destroyed and the Goa'uld are on their way back!" Hayes yelled into the microphone.

"This proposal is unacceptable!" the Chinese Premier argued, "This would keep control in the incompetent hands of the American government!"

The Russians had a more neutral view, "While it is true that the American-led SGC failed to prevent the attack, it could have been a lot worse. In the past years they have made many allies in the name of Earth. We believe the proposal is acceptable. If you would read it carefully, c_omrade_-" the word still had significance in Communist China- "you would see that the Americans would have only the majority of control, not all of it."

Did Russia just side with them? "Do we have your support?"

A pause and a sigh. "Russia is still undecided. We request a recess to contact representatives of our government."

"We could all use a break," Hayes agreed, "All right, we'll start this up again in two hours."

* * *

_Daniel Jackson_

There was a flash of light as Daniel Jackson was beamed up to the bridge. O'Neill appeared inside an Asgard medical pod.

"Well, that was quick," Daniel said. "So, can we have him back now?"

"I am afraid not Daniel Jackson. We believe the Ancient knowledge in his mind is the key to destroying the Replicators, who have invaded our homeworld," Thor said. "It will take some time to reach our homeworld. As you humans say; sit back and relax."

* * *

_Stargate Command_

It felt wrong even to Weir to let the System Lords leave. But right now they couldn't take on Ba'al, and they didn't want two enemies. Better to let them fight each other. Weir doubted that they would defeat Ba'al, but hopefully they would buy Earth some time.

"Goodbye," she said, "And good luck."

"Spare the pleasantries," Camulus said as he went through. Yu and his First Prime Oshu followed, saying nothing.

* * *

_Daniel Jackson_

"I have set up the computer to interface with his mind and translate in real time," Thor said, "Reviving him now."

"Hello?" O'Neill said through the computer system, giving his voice a synthetic quality. The lights flickered on and off a few times.

"I would advise you not to play with essential systems, O'Neill."

A hologram appeared on a pedestal in the middle of the bridge. On it, a device of some sort began to take shape.

"What are you-" Daniel began.

"Aaah! You'll see."

* * *

_White House Command Bunker_

"Transmission coming in, sir," reported a communications tech. "Direct line from Russia," he said.

"Patch me through," said the President. A few moments later: "Hello?"

"I apologize for not be able to tell you sooner," the Russian President said, "We would support you, but it would anger certain... elements in our country.

"It has been a long time since the days of Communism, but our country is still fractured and has problems. Recently, "progressive" elements have been pushing for control, via legal and illegal means.

"The worry is, if we agree, the government may seem like puppet to the West, and the country may devolve into chaos. I cannot allow that to happen."

"Andrey," Hayes replied, "You have my personal assurance that we will do whatever is necessary to keep that from happening."

"I fear that is not enough, Mr. President," he replied, and the line clicked off.

Henry Hayes was puzzled about why Russians would react negatively to unification after an alien attack, but reasoned that despite what some said, Russians did not think the same as Americans.

There was a lot more rioting and general dissent in Russia, too.

* * *

_Daniel Jackson_

Shortly after dropping out of hyperspace, an alarm began to sound. Carter's first thought was that they had overloaded the hyperdrive somehow. She quickly dismissed it.

"I cannot keep him alive any longer. I must remove the knowledge and revive him now," Thor said. Moments later, the pod popped open.

Jack stumbled out. "Easy," Sam said, supporting him. He found the cold metal of her armor reassuring for some reason, but his mind was a mess and he didn't remember a lot.

"O'Neill seems to have created something virtually. I am manufacturing it now," Thor explained, moving the Asgard stones around. A strange device appeared on the pedestal.

"Any idea what it is?" Daniel asked.

"Nope. I can't remember anything," the Colonel said, now walking clumsily on his own.

"I am receiving another transmission from Penegal," Thor inturrupted. Another grey Asgard appeared on the screen. "Penegal, what is your status."

"No better than before. The Replicators are acting in an organized and controlled manner. We believe a human form-" The transmission suddenly ended. Thor stayed still for a moment, thinking. Then he began, "I have detected remains of a human-form in the wreckage of the Replicator ship. I am beaming it onboard now."

"Is this safe?" Carter asked as it appeared in the containment pod. "Will that pod contain it?"

"Doubtful," Thor said. "However, we do not have any other options. I will attempt to hack into the Replicator communications network and disrupt it."

Carter opened up one of the crates and took out an awkward looking weapon. "X-698," she explained, "Earth's first home-built energy weapon. Crude and too heavy for a normal human to carry, but it might be able to stop a-"

The human form opened its eyes and broke out of the pod like it was nothing. Carter brought the weapon around and fired. It did some damage, making the Replicator pause and knocking a chunk loose. She fired again, but it kept heading for Thor. Seconds later it was destroyed in a flash of light.

"I discovered what this does," O'Neill said. He held the device like a gun. "It's a replicator... uh, disruptor."

"Analyzing," Thor said, unfazed, "I am not certain, but it appears possible to adapt the device to a large planetary-scale device. I will work as fast as possible, but it will take some time."

* * *

Thor was finished a few minutes later.

"That was quick," O'Neill said.

"Our concept of time is slightly different than yours," the Asgard half-joked, "I am firing the weapon."

A massive blue energy pulse surged forth from the ship and enveloped Orilla. On the surface, Replicators dissolved into harmless inactive blocks. On the other side of the planet, a spider shaped ship took off into hyperspace.

"So, is that the end of the Replicators?" O'Neill asked.

"No," Thor said. "A ship made of Replicator blocks managed to escape. It is logical to assume the human-form is onboard.

"It will take time to rebuild, but our people are saved... for the moment. We owe you a debt of gratitude, O'Neill."

"Yeah, we kind of have a favour to ask you, Thor," Daniel said, "As you know, we've been attacked, and we need some help rebuilding. Even if you can smooth the negotiations between our governments a bit, that would help."

* * *

_White House Command Bunker_

"...China will not-" There was a flash of light as the President disappeared. The Secret Service personnel pulled out their guns and several staff panicked.

"Relax," General Hammond said, "It's just the Asgard."

* * *

_Daniel Jackson_

The _Jackson_ was now fully crewed and carried a cargo to be delivered to Earth. Thor beamed up all the government representatives, the names and locations being provided by the SGC. The conference table and chairs were made in a hurry and were ugly, but functional and human sized.

Most of the heads of state were shocked. Henry Hayes wasn't overly surprised, and neither was the Russian President. Having a city destroyed above you did something for the nerves.

"I am Supreme Commander Thor of the Asgard fleet," Thor began.

"Thor?" the British PM asked, "As in, the Norse god of thunder Thor?" It was meant as a joke.

His response was dead serious. "As a matter of fact, yes, but that is not pertinent to this meeting.

"We, the Asgard, are prepared to offer a great deal of technology to your people. This includes an Asgard computer core containing much of our knowledge and several matter transformation units, similar to those in your science fiction.

"We can no longer uphold the Protected Planets treaty, however we are willing to turn three Beliskner-class vessels over to your control. We cannot provide humanitarian aid- our resources are stretched to the limit. We can promise to be your allies against the Goa'uld, Replicators, and other potential enemies, and have a treaty drafted."

"What's the catch?" China asked.

"I do not understand that expression," Thor said. He did, of course.

"What we mean is, what are the conditions of this alliance?" India clarified.

"I see," Thor replied, "One. Disclosure of the Stargate Program, its history and operations. Within reason, of course, not so that it would endanger the personnel or continuing operation of the program. Two. Agreement to the Allied Earth Space Forces Formation Treaty, placing General Hammond at its head, and the stipulated oversight committee. Last, an Asgard embassy and ambassador on Earth, to negotiate with and monitor your race's progress."

* * *

_White House Command Bunker_

General Hammond watched over the live video feed as everyone in the room immediately signed the treaty in front of them, some skimming it, others not bothering to at all. It was fairly obvious that these Asgard wanted to be friendly, but could be mean if they wanted to. And in galactic politics, that meant the destruction of planets.

Officially, the AESF was formed, with him at the head. In reality, it would take months for it to form. But he was determined to shape it into an effective fighting force, as quickly and efficiently as possible. With the entire military-industrial complex of Earth and Asgard technology behind it, the SGC (AESF, he corrected himself) would soon become the dominant power of the galaxy.

It was the beginning of a new era.

* * *

Hope you liked that! I deviated quite a bit from canon, and I think it turned out pretty well. Next chapter might be part 3 or a separate episode. It will bring in some new characters and details about the AESF. I don't think there will be any crossovers in this story, but definitely some references and nods. Also expect more videos.


	8. S1E3 Reorganization Part 3

SGD Season 1 Episode 3 "Reorganization" Part 3

The last part of this "episode". Originally more of an epilogue than anything, it slowly evolved into more of its own story.

On with it, then.

* * *

_2 months later_

_Stargate Command_

A lot had changed in the last two months.

_General_ O'Neill was now the commander of the SGC. Which was now part of the larger Allied Earth Space Forces. The Asgard technology had allowed them to finish the _Athena_ months ahead of schedule, and from what he heard the _Normandy_ was going along smoothly.

The SGC itself had been expanded. Now there were massive underground parking garages for mechanized forces, a shield to protect them in case Earth was attacked, and large training areas. There were a lot more personnel, too. There were now nearly a hundred (and counting) SG teams, all equipped with the latest weapons and Aegis Mark 2 armor. There were mechanized forces equipped with the new M301 tank, M302 troop carrier and M303 AA vehicle. No artillery or light vehicles, unfortunately. They could do without artillery, but it would be nice to have something like that something-hog from that video game O'Neill played once, in a store demo when he was bored and waiting for someone.

O'Neill was happy that General Hammond was at the top of the AESF, but wished there wasn't that damn oversight council. It wasn't as bad as he thought it would be, though. Having Earth attacked and the better part of a billion people killed had brought new meaning to international cooperation.

The defense platform under Antarctica was pretty much useless with the nearly-empty ZPM. The DTCS system was coming on line, though. O'Neill doubted the missiles on the satellites would be of much use, but the transporter network was useful for zipping around Earth in a hurry. But that was more an Earth Operations thing.

Of course, it wasn't perfect. They still weren't producing enough ships, tanks, aircraft or satellites. The problem was infrastructure. Asgard technology greatly sped up production, but it needed a lot of energy and raw materials. There were still people pissed off about the SGC, though the numbers were declining. There would always be some crazies out there. And then there were the people who wanted to see the SGC for themselves. Just because it had been disclosed didn't mean everyone could go inside and see it! It was no different than any other military operation.

* * *

_Fort Carson, Colorado_

First Lieutenant Melissa Roberts stood outside the door of her commander's office.

It wasn't fair- but in a way, it was. Both her sergeant and her commander said she had excellent leadership abilities and a good sense of strategy. She got nearly perfect on rifle and pistol marksmanship. She was the perfect lieutenant.

Except for the fact that she was just shy of five feet tall, weighed under a hundred pounds, and was thin as a stick. She fought tooth and nail to get a front-line position. She had gotten the support of a senator and a lot of media attention. Normally women weren't allowed in combat roles, but the Army had figured it wasn't worth the trouble and let her and a few dozen others in.

She was expected to fight with the guys, run with the guys, and sleep in the same tent as the guys. Really, she didn't see a problem with that. At first her platoon didn't trust her. Melissa was weak, a girl, and too cute to be a soldier, with an auburn ponytail and piercing brown eyes.

That had all changed the first time they deployed. It was about a year ago, in Iraq. Her unit had come under enemy fire. Sergeant Tyler had been hit, and she had gone back under enemy fire and pulled him back to the chopper. Roberts still had the scar where an insurgent bullet hit her in the leg.

It felt awful, but deep down, she knew it was fair. She wasn't as strong as the guys, didn't act the same, didn't feel the same. It was an administrative nightmare and cost more. Maybe the sexists were right.

Melissa brushed a tear from her eye, took a deep breath, and knocked on the door.

"Come in," Colonel Mann said from the other side. He motioned for her to sit down.

"You wanted to see me, sir?"

"Yes. I don't know how to tell you this, but you're finally getting transferred. Despite your shortcomings, you're a good lieutenant. Shame to lose you," Mann was a good commander, but sometimes too honest. "Transfer orders." He handed them over.

The lieutenant took the envelope and opened it. Administrative assistant. It hit her like a punch to the gut. She knew it was going to happen, but it still sucked.

"How do you feel about those orders. I want your honest opinion, Roberts," Mann asked.

"I don't like it one bit, sir. I joined the Army to fight, not to shuffle papers and bring some general his coffee every morning."

Mann opened his desk drawer and pulled out a single sheet of paper. "What about these ones?"

Roberts took the sheet and read it. It was a fax or computer printout. AESF? She didn't know a lot about it, only some rumours and what was on TV. First Lieutenant Melissa Roberts. As far as she knew, she was the only one on the base. Commander, SG-114. A combat assignment?

"Sir, are these real?"

"One hundred percent. Your choice, lieutenant."

She smiled for the first time in hours and passed the brown envelope back. "When do I leave, sir?"

* * *

_Antarctica_

The combination satellites were quite logically stationed above major cities first, with the gaps being filled in later. Unfortunately, that meant O'Neill had to take conventional transport to Antarctica. A flight in to McMurdo, and then a helicopter to the Ancient outpost.

His pilot was a Major John Sheppard. He seemed like a decent enough guy, but O'Neill had read his file and found he had a bit of a problem with authority. Sheppard had disobeyed direct orders attempting to rescue a friend from Afghanistan. O'Neill remembered when SG-1 had gone through the gate against orders to save the planet. That was a long time ago. He wasn't even commander anymore. _Lieutenant Colonel_ Carter was.

"What the hell? Hold on, sir!" Sheppard yelled as a bright yellow projectile came flying toward them. He yanked the cyclic right, causing the aircraft to violently roll over. As the drone flew past where they were seconds ago, he flung the tail around and jerked the helicopter up and to the left, causing the drone to miss again. They were running out of altitude. The drone came around again and Sheppard pushed the collective to the stops. The helicopter jerked upwards, but the drone shut down and fell to the ground before getting close.

"Nice flying," O'Neill said.

* * *

_Ancient Outpost_

"All right, Sheppard, don't touch anything!" O'Neill said as they left the elevator. O'Neill headed to the left and soon disappeared, leaving Sheppard to wander around.

"... just had to concentrate and the drone shut itself down," a Scottish voice bragged from the chair room.

"So you were the one," Sheppard said, not really a question.

"I didn't really mean it, I swear," the man said, blushing.

"Uh, what was that drone thing anyway?"

"The weapon created by the Ancients to defend the outpost."

"The Ancients are the ones who built the gate, right?"

"Aye. And they're the ones who built what we're looking for here. The Lost City."

"Of Atlantis?" Sheppard asked, joking.

"Actually, yes," the other man replied, "We've seen many links between aliens and mythology, even urban legends-"

"Yeah, I know, they ran a special on AFN. Who are you, anyway?"

"Doctor Carson Beckett, cheif medical officer of the Atlantis Expedition. You?"

"Major John Sheppard. I fly helicopters out of McMurdo."

* * *

Daniel Jackson drew seven stargate symbols on a whiteboard.

Rodney McKay immediately recognized them. "We tried that address. It's invalid."

"Not invalid," Daniel said, adding another symbol between the sixth and seventh, "Incomplete."

"It's in another galaxy," Weir noted.

"Jack, we need that ZPM."

"Oh no," O'Neill waggled his finger, "We need it to defend Earth. You can wait till the _Normandy _or the _Daedalus_ is ready."

"That ZedPM is almost empty. You could take out a few Ha'taks at the most," McKay added.

"Best case scenario, we meet real live Ancients!" Daniel said excitedly, "The DTCS system is almost finished anyway."

"We don't know if that system is even effective against Goa'uld ships!" O'Neill said.

"General, what we could learn from this is incredible," Weir said, "We could find and potentially bring back new technology beyond anything we've ever seen."

"Or you could all die moments after stepping through that gate."

"We're aware of the risk, General."

O'Neill sighed. "It's not my decision. But I'll send General Hammond my recommendation."

"Thank you, General."

* * *

"You mean some of us share genes with the Ancients?" Sheppard asked.

"From what we can tell, they looked a lot like us, though much more advanced," Beckett replied, "ATA is just one specific gene, that allows those who have it to operate Ancient technology."

"So, what are the chances of me having this mutant gene?" Sheppard asked, sitting down in the chair.

"Quite slim, actually," Beckett said, surprised, as the chair activated. "Doctor Weir!" he called.

Weir and McKay entered the room moments later. "All right," Rodney said, "I want you to think of our location in the Solar System."

A map of the Solar System immediately popped up over Sheppard's head. "Uh huh, what next?"

* * *

"General, we need Sheppard," Weir said to O'Neill.

"I thought you were going to meet live Ancients?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Best case, yes. But if we don't, we'll need people who have the gene."

"You already have a few dozen."

"Those people can make it work, yes. But Sheppard has a natural affinity for it. It's almost instinctual for him."

"You do realize he has a problem with authority, right? You're the one who has to deal with him."

"I know."

"So, go ask him," O'Neill gestured with his arm.

"I already did. He said no. I was hoping you would be able to convince him."

* * *

_Stargate Command_

It was creepy. One moment she was standing just outside Fort Carson, the next she was in here.

Lieutenant Roberts looked around. It was a drab grey room, probably underground. It was a decent size, with a raised lectern and flat wall-mounted screen. There were several neat rows of chairs and a large AESF-SGC logo on one wall. It was largely the same as the SGC crest she had seen on TV, but had a ring labelled with the letters AESF around it.

The most surprising part was the people. Maybe forty or fifty total. USAF, US Army, USMC, even a few USN. And a lot of people who weren't American. She recognized the uniforms of the IDF, Royal Marines, RAF, British Army, Canadian Forces even Russians and several she didn't recognize. Even a few civilians- they could be military in civilian clothing, but they looked and acted like civilians. Oddly, about half of them were women.

Melissa didn't have time to stare, however. A person wearing some sort of futuristic sci-fi armor marched into the room moments later. It was finished in a digital multi-camo similar to ACU, and seemed to be made up of metal or plastic plates and fabric sections. Not a single inch of skin was exposed. The faceplate was clear and covered the whole face, but she couldn't see a face from where she stood. It was probably real, too.

"She's a fuckin' Spartan!" someone said from the back.

The person moved behind the lectern. "Take a seat," she said, removing her helmet. She had blonde hair and blue eyes. The room quieted down quickly as several recognized her. "I'm Lieutenant Colonel Carter, Allied Earth Space Forces, formerly United States Air Force. You are the best of the best, and you've been chosen to protect Earth and her interests across the galaxy." Someone snickered.

"I've been with the SGC for over seven years. Over that time we've made allies and enemies and acquired technology just starting to filter into everyday life. We've made mistakes. We've done things wrong. For years, we were a black outfit, underfunded and unappreciated. With disclosure and the formation of the AESF, that's all changed.

"The AESF has to be flexible. We're still using the SG-team system. Each SG team is made up of four people- a military team leader, military or civilian specialist, and two additional military members. There are specialized teams as well. Each team can expect to be put together with others or with mechanized forces. You may be transferred to ships or offworld bases. We try to keep teams together, of course."

"If this outfit is so elite, then why are there so many fucking girls?" someone said.

"You, Sergeant Bomar," Carter said, "Come up here."

"Yes ma'am," he said, surprised and deflated. He trotted up to the front of the room.

"Do you think you can take me?"

"Of course I can!" he said, "There's a reason they shouldn't let girls in the army."

"Then try it," Carter said, smiling.

Bomar tried punching her in the face, but was against the wall with his arm twisted behind his back in seconds.

Carter let him go. "The Aegis Mark 2. Powered armor. You'll read up on the details later, but it provides protection against both bullets and energy weapons, has shields, boosts strength and speed, and is sealed against CBRN and vacuum.

"Back on topic now. The AESF performs several missions. One is exploration. Discovering new technology, new civilizations, making new friends out there in the galaxy. Another is defence. And oftentimes the best defence is a good offence. In the past it's been mostly special-ops and guerilla stuff, but as the resources become available we will be moving towards larger scale operations. That's basically the SGC in a nutshell.

"You will have more briefings, some homework to do, and of course a new training regimen. That was your introduction. If anyone isn't committed, you can walk out that door right now."

Nobody moved. "Good. Any questions?"

Roberts took a deep breath and raised her hand.

"Yes, Lieutenant?"

"Half the people in this room are women. Why is that, ma'am?"

"In regards to women in the military," Carter began, "The SGC has always been fully integrated. Now, in the AESF, we're trying to shoot for a 50/50 gender mix.

"Historically, the main arguments, aside from simple sexism, were that women are physically weaker, concerns over rape, psychological issues, and increased costs to segregate.

"You saw what I did to Sergeant Bomar. In Aegis armor, a female soldier is only a fraction of a percent weaker than a male one. We haven't had any psychological problems or rape in my seven years with the SGC, and if half our personnel are female, it is no more expensive to have a fully integrated unit."

* * *

_Antarctic Outpost_

"This isn't a long trip, so I'll be as succinct as possible," O'Neill said as he got in the helicopter beside Sheppard.

After a moment, he turned and replied, "That's pretty succinct."

"Thank you."

"I told Doctor Weir that I'd think about it," Sheppard said, flipping switches.

"And? So? Well? What?"

"Well, sir, I only found out about the Stargate a few months ago. Then I got attacked by some alien missile. And now I found out I have some mutant gene." Sheppard emphasized the 'mutant gene' part. "And then there's this 'Atlantis Expedition' thing to another galaxy."

"You know, this isn't about you, Sheppard," O'Neill said, "It's much bigger than that."

"Right now, whether I decide to go on this mission or not, seems to be about me," Sheppard shot back.

"Let me ask you something," O'Neill said as the engines started up, "Why'd you become a pilot?"

"I think people who don't want to fly are crazy."

"And I think people who don't want to go through the Stargate are equally as whacked. Now if you can't give me a yes before we reach McMurdo, I don't even _want_ you."

Sheppard reached up and pulled the engine shutoff handle, "Alright, sir, I'll do it."

"Great," O'Neill told him, "Now who's going to give me a ride back to McMurdo?"

* * *

As I said, this chapter was originally going to be an epilogue but evolved into more of a prologue. It took a while, but was actually very interesting to write. Even rehashing Rising was fun- since it's a bit different this time around. Rise of the Tau'ri includes background notes at the end- I'm wondering if I should too, since a lot of things may be confusing. I actually had a bit of an "OHSHI-" moment when I found out women weren't allowed to server combat roles in the US Army. I did a bit of lampshading, but now Lt. Roberts seems more unrealistic than ever. After this chapter, we're heading into Rising, and then splitting SG-1 and Atlantis a bit more. Expect an almost completely original involving much larger battles than seen on the TV show (and of course Lt. Roberts, and a reporter) and maybe some more originals. I find originals more fun than rehashing episodes, but some of those episodes are necessary. I'm considering a crossover, but it might take away from the story. It's something I've wanted to do for a while now, but I'm worried it might just be lame.

On a side note, this is the first chapter I've ever written that has broken 3000 words.


	9. S1E4 Rising Part 1

Season 1 Episode 4 Rising Part 1

From this episode on, I plan on putting an informational blurb of some sort in front. Also, OOU means "out of universe"- an important distinction since the background material is written with an in-universe style.

Music suggestions: Stargate Atlantis theme. No, really!

* * *

**AESF Uniforms**

The AESF has a variety of uniforms. They differ somewhat from traditional uniforms, reflecting the partially-civilian makeup and forward-thinking, practical attitude of the AESF.

_OOU: I don't know a lot about uniforms. Most of this is ripped off or made up._

General Duty

A general purpose uniform for most occasions and everyday use by the majority of AESF personnel. Consists of a black T-shirt and grey pants and a grey jacket with black panels over top. Both pants and jacket feature pockets. A different, waterproof jacket is substituted when appropriate. Apart from sizing, the uniform is identical for male and female members.

OOU: Except for the colours, virtually identical to the early Atlantis uniforms.

Flightsuit

Similar to the flightsuits used by the SGC, except grey. Made of a Nomex blend, resistant to heat and cuts. Worn for maintainance work and preferred by some personnel. Rarely worn for flight operations- aircraft crew are issued with the Aegis IIAC Combat Flight Suit.

Dress Uniform

Worn for special occasions (ceremonies, parades, etc). Similar to the standard USAF dress uniform, but in grey, a lighter shade than the standard AESF uniform. Three-button jacket over white shirt and black tie. Both male and female members wear pants and flat-soled shoes as well as a service cap or flight cap. A long water-resistant coat is worn in inclement weather.

* * *

_Stargate Command_

The base was bustling with activity. Pallets were loaded with supplies, vehicles prepared to travel through the gate, and final preparations made to interface the ZPM and dial the eighth chevron.

Close to a thousand people would go through the gate. In addition, dozens of vehicles and pallets upon pallet of supplies would have to be transported. It was no small undertaking. The staging area connected to, but not part of, the gateroom was packed. The expedition had no idea what kind of facility would be on the other side. Parking their tanks might prove difficult or impossible. And they had no idea how long they would be able to keep the gate open.

Weir shifted in her Aegis IIM armor. Every expedition member was equipped with a suit. Everyone would wear them going through the gate. They had no idea what was on the other side, and they could carry more this way. Even so, it seemed somewhat excessive.

"Are we there yet?" O'Neill asked as he walked into the control room.

"Almost. We're just waiting on Doctor McKay." Rodney was interfacing the ZPM to the stargate.

"Ah."

A few moments later, it was ready. Weir headed out into the gateroom. "Can I have everyone's attention please!" she yelled.

"We are about to attempt to make a connection. We have been unable to predict how much power this will take, and we may only get one chance at this, so if we are able to achieve a stable wormhole, we're not going to risk shutting it down. We'll send in the MALP robot probe, check for viability, and go. Everything in one shot.

"Every one of you volunteered for this mission. You represent over a dozen countries- you represent Earth. You are the world's best and brightest. And in light of the adventure we are about to embark on, you're also the bravest.

"I hope we all return one day having discovered a whole new realm for humanity to explore. But as all of you know, it may not work out that way.

"We may never be able to return home. We may come under attack from an unknown alien force. We may find nothing and run out of supplies.

"I'd like to offer you one last chance to withdraw your participation."

Nobody did.

"Begin the dialing sequence."

The inner ring of the gate began to spin. "Chevron one encoded!" Walter said.

"Let me make something clear, major," Colonel Sumner said to Sheppard, "You're not here by my choice."

"I'm sure you'll warm up to me, sir," he replied.

"Just remember who's the one giving the orders,"

"That would be Doctor Weir, right?" Sumner shot him a glare. Sheppard just smiled.

"Chevron seven... encoded," Walter said. "Chevron eight, locked!" The characteristic unstable vortex, or kawoosh, erupted from the Stargate. The expedition members began to clap as the MALP rolled through the wormhole. "Receiving MALP telemetry."

"A large room... structurally intact?" Daniel mused.

"Reading a breathable atmosphere," Walter added.

"Doctor Weir, you have a go," O'Neill said.

"Thank you, general." She headed back down into the gateroom.

"Recon teams one and two first! On my lead-" Colonel Sumner was inturrupted.

"Hold on, colonel!" Weir yelled.

The colonel paused and turned around.

"We go through together," she said, joining him on the ramp and putting the Aegis armor helmet over her head. She had only a standard Five-seveN pistol for armament, in a hip holster. She didn't think it was necessary, but better safe than sorry.

Weir turned around and looked back at the SGC for what could be the last time before stepping through the gate.

"All clear, it looks good," Sumner's voice came through crystal-clear, a side-effect of the digital encrypted communications system, "Parking the vehicles could be a problem though, recommend you send infantry teams first."

"All right. Infantry teams three through eight move out, mechanized battalion stand by."

* * *

_Atlantis_

It was incredible. Ancient architecture, fully intact. The stargate glowed blue and had different symbols. Stained glass, or something that looked like it, adorned windows and doors. A control room of some sort overlooked the gate area, and there appeared to be an iris like opening in the ceiling.

Sheppard gingerly walked up the steps towards the control room, McKay following him. As he did, lights began to come on. It was still dark, so Sheppard activated the flashlights built into his helmet.

"Who's doing that?" asked Sumner, "Any signs of alien activity?"

"Negative. We have found a suitable location for our vehicles, though."

"Good. We'll bring in the vehicles first, before the gateroom gets packed."

Moments later, the large M301 battle tanks began to emerge from the gate, followed by the slightly smaller M302 troop carriers. Towed behind some of the M302s were trailers with F-306 fighters on top. They headed out through a double door barely big enough, the solid Ancient walls scratching the camouflage paint on some of the vehicles. After the vehicles, a mass of military and civilian personnel, all clad in armor and carrying backpacks came through. The gateroom was soon a mess of people and containers of supplies.

"That's everyone," Colonel Sumner said, mainly to Weir.

"General O'Neill, Atlantis Base offers greetings from the Pegasus Galaxy. You may cut power to the gate."

A bottle of champagne rolled through, then the gate shut down.

* * *

The place was amazing. The simple and beautiful Ancient architecture belied the advanced technology. Above the gateroom was a hangar full of small spaceships designed to fly through the stargate. Wherever the expedition teams went the lights turned on by themselves. They had discovered the city was powered by not one but _three_ ZPMs.

And it was underwater. The entire city was protected by a shield, keeping the water out and the atmosphere in.

"Guess the legend of Atlantis wasn't just a legend," Sheppard had commented.

Yet the news wasn't all good. They had learned from a hologram that the Ancients had been forced to abandon Atlantis by an enemy beyond anything they had ever seen. Sheppard hoped they weren't still out there.

Of course, that would only become a problem if they survived. Power levels throughout the city were dropping. The great shield was failing after ten thousand years of holding back the water. The one ZPM that still had power in it was almost dead.

"Just tell me the bottom line," Colonel Sumner requested.

"The force field holding back the ocean has collapsed to its minimal sustainable level." McKay accentuated the "minimal sustainable level" part. He pointed to a diagram on the screen, showing the outer edges of the city in blue. "These areas are already flooded. The section we are in was likely more protected."

"What happens if it fails completely?" Sheppard asked.

"It's a matter of when, not if," McKay said, exasperated. "We have a matter of hours, maybe days if we stop searching right now."

"All security teams fall back to the gate room," Sumner ordered.

"What about our own power generators?" Beckett suggested.

"Two Asgard neutrino ion generators and four naquadah reactors. They'll buy us a few days, maybe, and that's only if we can get them interfaced in time."

"So we need to find more ZPMs?" Sumner asked, "Shouldn't we keep searching the city?"

"Look, if there were any here we would have been able to detect them."

"Can we use the Stargate?" Weir asked.

"There's nowhere near enough power to open a wormhole back to Earth. With our own generators interfaced, maybe, big maybe."

"What about somewhere in this galaxy?" Sheppard queried.

"Well, that's relatively easy. We've been able to access the stargate control system and a library of known gate addresses." Rodney gestured to the DHD console and the laptop connected to it.

"That's not all, look at this," said the technician behind the console. He pushed a button, and a blue energy shield appeared in front of the stargate.

"Like the iris on Earth," Sumner remarked.

"Using power, using power, using power," McKay muttered accusingly, and the technician turned it off.

Weir turned to the colonel. "Assemble a team. We need safe harbor, or better yet, another ZPM." Then she asked Rodney, "What's our best bet for saving the city, or at least ourselves?"

"Well, interfacing our own power sources will be important in the long run, if we make it that far. But right now, our best bet is to try to surface the city. We can't stay down here without a ZPM."

"Major, I think you should go with them," she told Sheppard, then turned to McKay. "Pick an address and start dialling."

McKay pressed the engraved buttons on the DHD in sequence. As he did, the stargate lit up its chevrons until they were all locked, then engaged, sending out the same kawoosh as those in the Milky Way.

"All right, send a MALP first, standard procedure. We'll stick with the tried-and-true encoding transponder for inbound traveller identification."

* * *

Shortly after, the team assembled in the gateroom. All wore Aegis II armor and carried a variety of weapons, including an M107 sniper rifle and M240 machine guns. One soldier even had a Star Streak missile launcher on her back. "MALP reads full viability," the technician reported, "And no immediate signs of activity around the stargate but it's pitch black. You might want to switch to light-amp or IR."

Sheppard switched to light-amp mode. The visor on his helmet polarized to block out light, and a semi-holographic display integrated into it displayed a bright green picture captured from stereoscopic low-light cameras. Though it could be set to any color or plain black and white, Sheppard had his set to green because it was what he was used to.

He took a deep breath and followed Lieutenant Ford through the gate.

* * *

_Athos_

"Security team one hold the gate! Everyone else with me. Stay frosty," Sumner ordered.

Sheppard went to the far right as the team fanned out. He noticed a tiny movement in the woods and switched to IR. "There," he said, his suit's computer automatically noting the contact, highlighting it and transmitting its location to the others. "Looks like children playing." He checked the safety on his SCAR-H rifle. Shooting some little kid was the last thing he wanted to do.

He watched until one of the kids burst out of the forest into his sight. The child took one look at Sheppard, clad in full armor and a tactical vest and carrying the SCAR-H rifle and screamed. Seconds later another child, this one wearing a mask, jumped out of the forest and tackled the first to the ground.

It was at this point that Sheppard noticed there was a man in the forest as well. He was hard to see even on IR, but the integrated Asgard sensors could easily tell him apart from the forest. He appeared as a blip on John's HUD.

"Please- don't hurt us!" one of the children yelled. Seconds later the man came crashing out of the bush.

"Please, they're just playing!" he shouted, running over to the young boys.

"We're not going to hurt anyone," Sheppard said. He tapped the interface on his left forearm, depolarizing the visor and allowing a clear view of his face.

The man gestured to himself. "Halling."

"I don't know what that means," Sheppard said.

"It's his name," Sumner growled.

"Oh," Sheppard said, "It's nice to meet you."

"Are you here to trade?" Halling asked.

"Yes," Sheppard said, unconvincingly, "We're traders."

"You wear strange clothing for traders."

"Yeah, we come from far away," Sheppard responded, "Very far away, in fact. Unimaginably far away."

It seemed to satisfy Halling. He turned to the children. "How many times have I told you not to play in the forest after dark. I'm just glad you are safe." He turned back toward Sheppard. "Teyla wishes to meet with you. Come."

"Security team one, dial Atlantis Base and let the good doctor know we've made contact with the indigenous people. Everyone else move out," Sumner ordered.

* * *

They followed Halling to a village made of skin tents. Fires glowed brightly in the darkness.

"It is Halling," he shouted into a tent, "I bring people from away."

"Enter," said a female voice from inside, and Sumner, Sheppard and Ford entered.

"They wish to trade," Halling said to the woman.

"Yeah," Sheppard said, pulling off his helmet, "So, uh, it's nice to meet you."

"I am Teyla Emmagan, daughter of Tagan." She examined the visitors carefully. There were like nothing she had ever seen. What they were wearing seemed like armour, but was painted in a strange blocky grey-green-tan pattern and they wore a sort of vest with a lot of pockets over it. What struck her most was the weapons- at least she thought they were weapons. Nothing like any other people she had seen, more like Wraith weapons, but not those either.

Colonel Sumner introduced the group. "I'm Colonel Sumner, this is Major Sheppard and Lieutenant Ford. We have a very few specific needs."

"We do not trade with strangers," Teyla answered flatly.

"Well then we'll just have to get to know each other," Sheppard responded. "Me, I like ferris wheels, college football and everything that does more than two hundred miles an hour."

Lieutenant Ford leaned over and whispered in his ear, "Sir, that's not going to mean anything to them."

"I'm just trying to break the ice," he whispered back.

"These people can't help us, I think we're just wasting time," Sumner added.

Teyla heard some of it. "Each morning, before dawn, our people drink a stout tea to brace us for the coming day," she offered, "Will you join us?"

Sheppard took a step forward and smiled, "I love a good cup of tea. There's another thing you know about me."

For the first time during their meeting, Teyla smiled. "We're practically friends now," Sheppard continued.

* * *

Sumner looked out across the water. There were ruins of a city similar in architecture to Atlantis. He used the zoom built into his armour to get a better view.

"Didn't even know about it until the sun came up," the sergeant beside him said.

"This looks more promising than anything else these folks have to offer," Sumner said, "Shelter, nice little valley. Location, location, location." He walked back to the village and entered a tent where Teyla, Sheppard and another Athosian stood.

"The city of the ancestors is not safe," the Athosian man said.

"We can handle ourselves," Sumner retorted.

"The Wraith will come," the man pressed.

"Who are these Wraith?" the Colonel asked.

"We have never met anyone who did not know," Teyla answered incredulously.

"You have now."

"If the Wraith have never touched your world you should go back there," Teyla said.

"We'd like to but we can't," Sheppard began to explain, "See, ma'am, we've got ourselves into a bit of a bind; we may need a safe place to stay for a little while."

"Our people have long believed that the Wraith will come if we venture into the old city. It has been a long time since we have tested that belief."

Sheppard, Ford and Sumner walked outside and stood by the water. "There may be ZPMs in that city they don't know or care about."

"What if the Wraith are the enemy the Ancient hologram talked about?" Sheppard argued.

"All the more reason to have a defensible position should we have to abandon Atlantis."

"Sheppard, you stay here and find out what you can. Ford, head back to the gate and tell Weir we'll have answers for her in a few hours."

Sheppard went back into the tent. "Well, looks like it's just you and me," he said to Teyla, then noticed the Athosian man. "And him."

"Your leader looks through me as if I were not there," Teyla began, then switched topics, "You truly cannot return to your world?"

John just shook his head.

"Then there is something you should see."

* * *

_Atlantis_

"Tell me you have good news, Rodney." Weir said.

"I wish I could," he replied.

"That shield has held back water for centuries!"

"And it would continue to hold back water for years if we hadn't arrived here."

"We've stopped exploring the city."

"The damage is done. Look, even standing here drains power," Rodney explained.

"Can't we just surface the city?"

"It's not as simple as pulling a lever that says 'surface city'. I have to interface our computer system with theirs- working on it- and then work my way through a maze of control protocols and commands to find the right ones."

"How long?"

"What? I don't know! It could take a few more hours, it could take a few more years-" The city suddenly shook and the lights flickered.

"Then I suggest you get on it."

* * *

_Athos_

"I used to play here as a child. I believe this is where the survivors hid from the Wraith." Teyla took a torch from the wall as they entered the cave. The walls seemed to be made of carved stone or blocks. He got out a lighter to light the torch when Teyla produced a small device that lit it from a distance. "Our people mastered fire long ago," she explained cryptically.

Sheppard followed Teyla into the structure. He saw a glint of silver in the dirt of the floor, and brushed some dirt aside with his gloved left hand, revealing a necklace.

Teyla instantly recognized it. "I lost it years ago. How did you-"

"It was just lying there on the ground. Reflecting off the light." He examined the drawings on the walls. "Someone's been busy."

"The drawings in the cave are extensive. Some date back thousands of years."

John shone his flashlight on one particular drawing. "Does this show the destruction of your city?"

"This drawing far predates that. I believe it happens again and again. The Wraith allow us to grow in number. Once that number reaches a certain point they return- to cull their human herd. Sometimes it is hundreds of years before they come back again. We have visited many, many worlds, none untouched by the Wraith. The last great holocaust was five generations ago, but still they return in smaller numbers. To remind us of their power."

"It's a hell of a way to live," was all John could think of saying.

"We move are hunting camps around. We try to teach our children not to live in fear, but it is hard. Some of us can sense the Wraith coming. That gives us warning." She turned to head back out. "We should go. It will be dark soon."

* * *

That took quite a while to write, mostly due to laziness. Please leave a review, even if it is horribly scathing. SGD is hard to write due to the format, potential length, and modified continuity.

On a side note, I may be starting a new fanfic soon. Stay tuned.


	10. S1E5 Rising Part 2

SGD Season 1 Episode 5 Rising Part 2

This is another "modified" episode, but with quite a few changes. More notes at the bottom- most are spoilers.

* * *

**AESF Ranks**

NATO pay grade/equivalent, name and description of insignia are given, in that order. Personnel are given AESF equivalent ranks upon transfer to the AESF. Rank insignia is worn on the sleeve or on the shoulder depending on the uniform. Some "Master" enlisted ranks share insignia.

General Officers

OF-9/10: General – four silver stars

OF-8: Lieutenant General – three silver stars

OF-7: Major General – two silver stars

OF-6: Brigadier General – one silver star

Officers

OF-5: Colonel – three silver stripes

OF-4: Lieutenant Colonel – three gold stripes

OF-3: Major – two silver stripes

OF-2: Captain – two gold stripes

OF-1: Lieutenant – one silver stripe

Enlisted

OR-9: Master Warrant Officer – two black stripes

OR-7/8: Warrant Officer – one black stripe

OR-6: Master Sergeant – three black chevrons

OR-5: Sergeant – three black chevrons

OR-4: Master Corporal – two black chevrons

OR-3: Corporal – two black chevrons

OR-1/2: Private – one black chevron

_OOU- These were hard to do. The idea is to have a rank system that won't screw over transferring personnel, such as making a captain a lieutenant. The officer ranks were easier- those are similar in most militaries. The enlisted ranks were harder, especially since the AESF wouldn't have traditional air/sea/land elements. Officer ranks are the same as USAF I think. The idea for stipes for insignia came from the Canadian Forces ranks. Why are enlisted ranks black? It was the only colour I could think of that wasn't already used, is military-ish, and would show decently on a grey uniform. It was that or pale blue._

* * *

_Athos_

Lieutenant Ford was guarding the gate with a few other soldiers. Suddenly, the gate began to dial in. "Colonel, we have gate activity. Defensive positions!" He crouched behind the DHD as the others brought their weapons up. A sleek, organic purple craft flew out of the gate, and then two more.

Beside Ford, Corporal Ivanova brought her Star Streak/G missile launcher to her shoulder.

"Colonel, are we cleared to open fire?" Ford asked. The interlinked combat communications systems had already informed him of the presence of the three craft.

In the village, the people were panicking and starting to flee. Major Sheppard was the one to answer him first, however. "It's the Wraith, they are hostile, repeat they are hostile!" he yelled, he and Teyla already on their way back. He could move much faster than Teyla, of course, but didn't want to leave her behind.

"Open fire, open fire, you are cleared to open fire!" Colonel Sumner yelled, dragging an Athosian man up with him as the alien craft flew overhead.

The Star Streak missile system was designed for both space and in-atmosphere use. The cut down Star Streak/G missile is for use by ground troops and vehicles. The launcher and missile are heavy, in fact too heavy for unaugmented troops. Even though the Wraith craft were already over the village, they were still well within range. Ivanova aimed the launcher in the general direction and fired, the missile's targeting system locking on almost instantly. Powered by a "fusion torch" hybrid engine, it reached its target in seconds, the naquadah-enhanced warhead reducing the Wraith craft to pieces.

Sumner wasn't watching the fireworks. Another of the craft had sucked up several of the villagers with some sort of transport beam, and now they were all firing at them to no avail. He saw some sort of figure, some motion, in the corner of his eye and fired at it. "They're on the ground, all over us!" someone yelled.

Sheppard had also tried to shoot at the phantoms. Teyla had stopped him. "They are not really there," she explained, "Do not trust your eyes, the Wraith deceive they are not there."

"They aren't real!" Sheppard yelled over the communications net, "Trust your tactical displays, not your eyes!"

The craft had energy weapons that fired blue bolts in addition to the transport beams. One of them had circled around and was now strafing the team guarding the gate. Ivanova reloaded the missile launcher and fired again, straight toward the craft now heading right toward them. There was no cover in the clearing. She dashed behind the Stargate as an energy bolt hit her, partially draining her shields and causing her to stumble. The missile missed on the first pass, then circled back again and smashed into the craft and exploded, pieces of it peppering the entire area.

The last alien craft sucked up Colonel Sumner and Sergeant Bates as they fired ineffectively on it, then turned toward Sheppard, chasing him and Teyla. Almost instinctively, he dashed forward, outpacing the now slow-moving craft and leaving Teyla in the dust. He dived to the side as the craft accelerated, but it did not give chase, having beamed up Teyla.

"Teyla!" he shouted, but new it was of now use. Worse, his HUD indicated that Sumner, Bates and several others had disappeared.

"Sir," the Lieutenant said over the comm, "They've taken the Colonel!"

"Damn it!"

It got better. "Gate's activating again! The last bogey's heading toward it."

"Do not engage, there are friendlies on board! Get a good view of the dialing device and make sure all lighted symbols are visible! Make sure your recorders are active!" In most cases the Aegis suit automatically recorded audio, video and tactical data for future use. If they knew the address, they could dial it, and possibly mount a rescue mission. Ford safetied his SCAR-H and looked at the DHD.

The last Wraith craft flew through the gate and it deactivated only seconds later. The first engagement with the Wraith lasted less than fifteen minutes. They had lost Sumner, Bates and a few others, and the Athosians had lost their leader, among others. The Wraith had lost two craft of unknown value.

* * *

Sheppard approached the burning, sparking wreckage of the Wraith craft carefully. Better to let searching through it to the scientists. Good, didn't seem to have any self-destruct devices. A piece of wreckage moved and something slid out from under it. It was a hand- almost human, with five fingers but had something covering parts of the fingers and knuckles. And it was moving! Sheppard smashed the butt of his gun down on it and it stopped. He picked it up and put it in a plastic bag, which went into an empty pocket. Maybe one of the scientists would find it interesting. He was glad the Aegis armour had gloves.

"Help me!" Jinto screamed as he came running up to Sheppard. "I can't find my father," he sobbed.

Sheppard put his hand on Jinto's shoulder. "Don't worry. We'll bring him back." He wasn't sure if they would be able to, but he was damn well going to try.

* * *

_Atlantis_

"How are we doing?" Weir asked McKay. They were both wearing their armour. If all else failed they could swim to the surface- but that was far from a desirable option.

"The city is sacrificing itself in order to maintain main areas but catastrophic failure is inevitable."

"Never, in my wildest dreams did I think we'd find the city of the Ancients so untouched- and we have no choice but to walk away from it?"

"We don't have any other choice," Rodney responded, "If we leave now we could save the city."

"Colonel Sumner and his team haven't come back yet. We have no idea what's out there!"

"We'll be back," Rodney assured her, "We'll find another power source in Pegasus. We can't stay any longer. It's time to go, NOW!"

Weir made one of the toughest decisions in her life. If it could be called a decision. It felt wrong to leave Atlantis but Rodney was right, they didn't have any other choice. "Attention all personnel," she began but was interrupted by the city shaking as another section flooded. "Standby for immediate evacuation. Dial the gate!"

McKay immediately began dialling but as soon as the first chevron was locked it began to activate. Someone was dialling in. He raised the shield.

"Receiving Lieutenant Ford's IDC!" he said, lowering it again.

Major Sheppard, part of the original team they had sent, and a group of Athosians came through. Sumner and several others were noticeably absent, and Weir noticed that their armour was dirty and dented. "Major Sheppard!" she yelled, "Who are all these people?"

"Survivors from the settlement. We were attacked," he answered, "Sumner and some of our people were taken. What's going on?" Weir was wearing full armour and a helmet. That couldn't be a good sign.

"We are in no position to help anyone right now!" she said angrily.

"What the hell's going on right now?"

"We're about to abandon the city. The shield is about to fail and the ocean is about to come down on top of us."

Rodney interrupted them. "Wait! I have an idea. No time to explain." He went over to a laptop and began to type furiously, accessing Atlantis's systems. Moments later, the city shook violently with a loud rumble and began to rise.

"What did you do?" Weir asked Rodney.

"No time to explain!" he repeated, "Get away from the windows! The shield's collapsing!"

The shields did indeed collapse about halfway to the surface. The windows in the gateroom cracked but did not shatter, and Sheppard was worried they would start to leak. "Get the Athosians into the control room!" He yelled. It was higher up and would flood only after the gateroom was filled with water. He pushed Jinto to the stairs, and the boy immediately scrabbled up them.

Emergency forcefields had sprung up in front of the windows, keeping the water out. Most of the city was flooded, but it was pushing toward the surface. It broke the water with a tremendous crash, creating miniature waves that flowed outward from the city. Sheppard walked up the stairs toward the window where everyone was gathering. The view was beautiful. Past the elegant Ancient architecture was a vast blue ocean, the sun bright in the sky.

"I was hoping for another day," Elizabeth said, "Looks like we just got a whole lot more than that. Let's not waste it."

* * *

"The last zero point module is depleted," McKay explained, "But limited power is available now that our generators don't have to hold back an ocean. Life support systems are working but the planet's atmosphere is breathable."

"So now can our generators supply enough power to the shield for defensive purposes?" Weir asked.

"Our naquadah generators won't even raise it. The two neutrino ion generators the Asgard gave us would last five minutes or two blasts from a Ha'tak's weapons, whichever comes first."

"What about our own equipment? Everyone and everything settling in okay?"

"That's more Radek's department." Dr. Radek Zelenka was the Czech scientist in charge of day-to-day operation of the city's systems.

"The nanoconstructors are set up and tied in to the power grid," Zelenka explained. The devices were Asgard in origin, using modified beaming technology to build things. It required a significant investment in energy and still needed raw materials. They were similar to the replicators in Star Trek, but that name had too many negative connotations to be used. "One neutrino ion generator and two naquadah generators are connected, the others kept in reserve. Computer network is fully operational." He left to go work on some issue or other.

"When can you tell me where the Wraith took Colonel Sumner?" Sheppard asked.

"Even with the six symbols Lieutenant Ford provided there are still hundreds of permutations-"

"Then you better start now."

"Major? A word." Weir said to Sheppard and they went outside.

* * *

"Let me guess. You're not going to let me rescue my people." Sheppard began.

"Major, we don't even know if they're alive."

"You don't leave people in the hands of the enemy! And the fact that we are having this conversation in private lets me know damn well that you know it's wrong. And it will totally undermine your leadership."

"All right, just shut up and listen to me for a sec. Come on, what do we know about the Wraith? One of the few things we do know is that they are the enemy that defeated the Ancients. When we first began to use the Stargate on Earth we got ourselves into serious trouble because they didn't consider the consequences-"

"How am I supposed to react? They took our people!"

"And we are defenseless. Going off on some half-assed rescue mission could lead the Wraith right back to Atlantis."

"Maybe it will. But it's the right thing to do. Our people are in the hands of the enemy, do you know what that means? They might already know we're here and even if they don't, the longer we wait the more time they'll have to find out."

Weir knew she was fighting a losing battle. "I just need more information. Maybe we can negotiate, reach a peaceful-"

"Peaceful? Are you kidding? It couldn't have been more than a few hours before they showed up."

"Is it possible you brought them there? And that one of the people we brought back-"

"They're not all bad people. If there's one thing in this galaxy we need, it's friends."

"Okay. But I want a well planned, well organized rescue mission, and I will not authorize the mission unless you can convince me it has a good chance of success. I'm not sending more people, including you, to their deaths."

"Okay," Sheppard said, turning to go back inside.

"Major," Rodney said as he came back inside. "We've figured out the address but there's a bit of a problem."

"What is it?" Sheppard asked. This was the last thing he wanted to hear.

"The gate is in high orbit above the planet. We lost a MALP figuring that out. But of course me being myself, I've managed to figure out a way to solve that problem. Come with me, Major."

* * *

"Doctor Beckett, what was it you want me to see?" Weir asked as she walked into the med lab.

He picked up the Wraith hand. "These cells have none of the normal human inhibiting proteins whatsoever. That gives them an incredible ability to regenerate."

"What does that mean for us?" Weir asked.

"If I was a betting man, I would say the thing this hand belonged to was old. Very old. It might not even die of natural ageing like we do. And it would be bloody hard to kill."

"That's it?" It was significant, and scared Weir a bit.

"Aye."

"All right, thank you."

* * *

The bay full of the small ships, above the gateroom, was Weir's next stop. Rodney had called her and met her on the way. "What's that noise?" she asked upon entering.

"What? I don't know! He was right here. Major!" Rodney called to thin air.

In front of them, one of the small ships decloaked and Sheppard waved from inside. "You said you wanted tactical advantage?"

"All right, you can fly that thing. Doesn't mean you can pull off a rescue."

"Doctor, this is why you brought me here."

Weir smiled, knowing she had been completely outmanuvered. "Okay. You have a go."

* * *

"Alright people, get ready to go," Ford said to the people in the back of the ship before taking a seat. They were the best the best from all over the world, eight in all. All wore Aegis armour and most carried SCAR-H rifles. Like last time, one person was armed with a Star Streak launcher, another with an M107 sniper rifle, and one carried an M240 machine gun. Everyone carried a silenced M91 PDW as a sidearm. Extra weapons were carried in the back of the ship, of course.

"Gateship One, ready to go," Ford said to Sheppard.

"Gateship One? A little puddle jumper like this?"

"It's a ship that goes through the gate. Gateship One. Doctor McKay thought it was cool."

"Oh, okay, it's official." Sheppard paused and Ford smiled. "You don't get to name anything. Ever. Flight, this is Puddle Jumper."

"Uhh, I thought we were going with Gateship," McKay responded.

"Negative flight."

"It's a ship that goes through the... nevermind," McKay said to Weir. "Fine. Puddle Jumper, you are cleared for launch."

"Dial it up, Lieutenant," Sheppard said to Ford. He began dialing the address on a DHD integrated into the center console of the cockpit.

Just after the gate activated, a door opened in the ceiling of the gateroom and the puddle jumper dropped through and disappeared through the gate.

"Be safe," Weir whispered as the gate shut down.

* * *

_Wraith Planet_

"Wow," Sheppard said as he flew. "A lot of fighter pilots would kill to fly this thing. It's like it reads your mind."

A map of the planet and several sensor readouts appeared in front of them. "Did you do that, sir?" the Lieutenant asked.

"Well, I was just thinking about where we go from here."

"I'll take that as a yes. So how do we find them when we land."

"I've been thinking about that too," Sheppard replied. Beside him, a compartment opened up. Sheppard pulled out the small, PDA-like device and put it in an empty pocket. "Now I'm thinking about a nice turkey sandwich."

Nothing happened. "Worth a try," Ford said, shrugging.

* * *

"Sir, are you alright?" Sumner opened his eyes. He had a pretty big headache. It was Bates. They were in some sort of Wraith holding cell, organic in appearance with some sort of web for a door. The aliens hadn't tried to take off their armour. Good. Sergeant Bates, Lieutenant Malach, and Master Corporal Bertrand were all there. Teyla and three other Athosians sat in the corner.

"Yeah, I'm fine," he said, getting up. "How long was I out?"

"Don't know, sir," Bates reponded, "The first of us only woke up ten minutes ago. Chronometer says it's been a few hours since I last checked back on the planet."

"Damn it. Everyone get your knives ready and check your armour. I want to give those bastards a surprise when they show up." Hidden in the right forearm plate was a small knife. The Wraith had stripped them of their weapons and tac vests, but missed the knives.

"You intend to fight the Wraith?" Teyla asked, surprised yet again.

"Why shouldn't we?" Sumner replied.

"Our fates are sealed. To attempt to escape would be suicide," Halling said.

"We aren't dead yet. I intend to get out of here or die trying. Of course you're welcome to stay here if you want."

They were interrupted by Teyla. "Someone comes," she said simply. She could sense the presence of the Wraith.

Moments later three Wraith appeared. They were vaguely human, but with pale greenish skin, and white hair- almost vampiric in appearance. Two were muscular, had their faces obscured by bone masks, and carried some kind of weapon insectoid in appearance.

"Who are you?" the unmasked one hissed, coming through the now open web-door.

"Colonel Marshall Sumner, Allied Earth Space Forces." The Wraith tried to hit him in anger, demonstrating his assumed superior strength. It had not occured to him that the human might be even stronger, although artificially boosted. Sumner grabbed the alien's hand, twisted it, and drove the knife through where his heart should be.

To his right, Lieutenant Malach dived out of the way of the masked Wraith swinging his weapon. She kicked his foot out from under him and the Wraith crashed to the ground. She drove her knife hard through his neck and twisted, severing the spinal cord and several major arteries. The last Wraith tried shooting Bates with his energy weapon to no effect. Bates grabbed it and impaled him on the sharp back end of the weapon.

"Make sure they're dead," Sumner growled, crushing the Wraith's skull with his foot. Malach pulled her knife all the way across and tore the Wraith's head off, and Bates used the Wraith weapon to smash his adversary's skull in.

"Let's go," Sumner ordered, shouldering the Wraith weapon.

* * *

Sheppard landed the ship in a clearing near the Wraith compound. It was dark and stormy outside. "All right, team one with me, team two stay here and hold the ship. Do not engage the enemy unless absolutely necessary." He grabbed a small silver cylinder out of the back of the jumper. "Let's do this."

"Major Sheppard, this is Sumner, we are inside the Wraith structure but have escaped confinement, over."

"Solid copy, receiving your transponder signal. We'll be in there soon, sir." Two guards stood in front of the entrance. "Silenced weapons only," he said to his team. "Vega, left one, Peretz, right one. Take them out on my mark. Three... two... one... mark!" The Wraith recoiled from the first three-round burst but did not fall. Immediately they opened fire and emptied the entire thirty-round magazines. Two more Wraith appeared in the doorway. Even the Wraith had guard shifts.

"Damn, they know we're here now. Forget stealth, open fire!" Sheppard brought his SCAR up and pulled the trigger, sending a hail of bullets into the Wraith's chest. "Aim for the head if possible from now on, and make sure they are dead!"

"Sheppard, get your ass in here! There's some sort of alarm and the place is crawling with Wraith now!" Sumner shouted over the radio. Sheppard could hear Wraith weapons in the background.

"Move! We'll rendezvous at this location," Sheppard said, picking an area inside using the arm-mounted interface. The location was immediately sent to Sumner. "Can you make it there?"

"We can, but it won't be easy," he replied, smashing a Wraith in the head with the captured weapon.

Sheppard pulled out the device he got inside the ship. It showed his team as blips, and a whole bunch more blips inside. Lifesigns detector. Neat but nothing special- the Aegis sensors were better- not so much better at detecting but they were fully integrated. Disappointed, he put the device away and led his team inside.

* * *

"Sheppard, where the hell are you!" Sumner said. The Wraith were everywhere. The stun weapons were pretty much useless against their shields and armour, but an Athosian had been hit. They couldn't move fast enough. He fired the Wraith weapon at the closest one, making sure to hit him twice. The Wraith weapons were crap- big, inaccurate, slow to fire and only stunned. But they were damn effective for what the Wraith did- they didn't want them dead. The Wraith fed on people. Everything they knew about the Wraith could be brought up and displayed on his HUD- it was transferred from the rescue team's suits automatically. He shot the same Wraith a third time.

"This better?" Sheppard said, kneeling down beside him and handing him a Desert Eagle handgun and four magazines.

"A little," he said, tossing the Wraith weapon aside. He aimed it at the Wraith's head and fired. The .50 AE round hit slightly to the right side of the forehead, smashing the skull into fragments and literally scrambling the Wraith's brain.

"Come on, this way!" Sheppard yelled (unnecessarily) and led them through another door- a reasonably solid one, not a web-door. What looked like a Wraith female stood in their way, and without pausing Sheppard shot her in the head three times. Lieutenant Petrova, their tech specialist, shot the door controls with her rifle. It was crude and not the best use of her abilities, but it seemed to have worked.

At almost the same time, hundreds of Wraith woke up, awakened by the death of their queen, appearing on their sensors. "Oh shit. We've got to get out of here, now!" He started to run, but Sumner didn't follow.

"Go!" he shouted, "I'll hold them off."

"Sir-"

"No time for it now!" The Wraith were about to break the door open.

"Take this, sir." Sheppard gave the cylinder, about ten inches long and four in diameter, to Sumner. "It's the new mark fourteen micro-nuke. Should take out the whole place. Same controls as the mark twelve." He ran to catch up with the rest of his team, who had gone on without him.

Sumner had only a moment to reflect as he set the timer for five minutes. So this is how it would end. A hero's death. The door burst open, and the unfortunate ones doing the bashing died in seconds.

"Get in!" Sheppard yelled, urging the people into the jumper. "Sumner's probably set the nuke for only a few minutes, we gotta go now!" He sat down in the pilot's seat and immediately took off, leaving the people in the back to close the doors manually.

Sumner ran out of ammunition before even half the time was up. He tossed the pistol aside, kicked aside the Wraith trying to stab him, and grabbed the nuke. He tore the safety cover off the detonate button and held it down.

* * *

"Holy fuck! Sorry sir," Lieutenant Ford said. The entire Wraith complex was blown apart in a bright flash, and a mushroom cloud was beginning to form.

"It's okay, Lieutenant. But we're not out of the woods yet." Several of the Wraith craft were in orbit, guarding the stargate.

"Should we dial Atlantis, call in fighter support?" Ford suggested.

"No, last time I checked the F-306s weren't even unpacked yet. We'll uncloak, draw them away from the gate and double back."

Sheppard uncloaked the ship and four of the Wraith ships immediately gave chase. "Be prepared to dial the gate on my mark!" He did a barrel roll and pulled hard to the left, but the Wraith ships followed easily. One opened fire, hitting their ship several times.

"See anything like a weapons console over there?" Sheppard asked Ford. The thing was probably armed. Drone launchers popped out of each side of the ship and one flew out, destroying a chasing Wraith ship. The remaining ships opened fire.

"Try to go invisible again!" Ford suggested as they took another energy blast.

"I tried, it must be damaged! Dial the gate," Sheppard ordered. He flew the jumper directly toward the active gate and destroyed one of the two ships guarding it with a trio of drones.

"Transmit your IDC on the next pass," he said, destroying another Wraith craft and drawing fire from another in the process."Now! Hang on!" He turned the ship toward the gate. The last two Wraith ships fired wildly, some of the bolts going through the gate. The Wraith ships followed them through the gate.

* * *

_Atlantis_

The energy bolts came through the gate. The security team scrambled for cover as soon as the first person was hit. As soon as the jumper came through, Weir ordered the shield reactivated. The two Wraith ships disintegrated against the shield, and then the gate shut down.

"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Atlantis," Sheppard said, "Please remain seated until the puddle jumper comes to a full and complete stop."

* * *

"Major, Lieutenant, I thought the occasion merited opening this," Weir said, handing Sheppard and Ford stainless steel mugs with champagne in them. "Complements of General O'Neill."

"Cheers," Sheppard said, and drank it all in one shot.

"You did good, John," Elizabeth praised.

"I don't know about that."

"Colonel Sumner chose to stay behind to give you and everyone else a chance. He's a hero, and we'll remember him as one."

"Yeah. But I still have to live with that." John paused for a moment. "I'm beginning to think you're right. I have made things much worse. Haven't made us many more friends out there."

"No. Look around you." John looked. He saw Jinto and Halling embracing, Teyla and the other Athosians around socializing.

"I agree, Major Sheppard," Teyla walked over and put her hands on his shoulders and bowed her head. He nervously did the same.

"A traditional Athosian custom. You have earned both my friendship and that of my people." She smiled. "With our help we will make many more friends."

"One more thing, John," Elizabeth said, "Something to sleep on."

"And what will that be?"

"Who the members of your team will be. You're the ranking military officer now. That means you'll be in charge of our flagship team- in addition to the rest of the military contingent. We need to get back out there, do what we came to do." She left, leaving Sheppard to his own thoughts.

He looked out over the ocean. His thoughts drifted to the SGC back in the Milky Way. Helping others become free from oppression. Defending themselves and others against incredible odds. Discovering new worlds, new knowledge, new cultures. In general, making the galaxy a better place.

It was the same here. The Wraith were an incredibly powerful enemy, but that hadn't stopped them before.

* * *

First off, this is the first thing I've written that broke 4000 words! (it breaks 5000 with notes, rank information, and formatting) I know, some people write chapters longer than this whole fic, but I think this is a nice length.

Wraith stunners are almost completely useless agains the Aegis armour. It will drain the shields a little, but that's about it. Of course the Wraith will come out with something better in the future. I didn't want Sumner to survive- I want Sheppard the military leader of Atlantis. The original death would not work at all. This was the best I could come up with. There would have to be a reason for him to stay behind- it was originally to guard and detonate the nuke (a la Virmire) and the part about holding the Wraith off and giving Sheppard time to escape came as I was writing it.

I do realize that this is another "rehash X episode" chapter. The next episode will be Assault Part 1, an all-original, SGC-focused episode featuring lots of the SGD technology, more open warfare, and focusing on some new characters. SGD is like the real show- every episode is different, there's something for everyone. Stargate Domination isn't a very good name- compared to Rise of the Tau'ri or even Reaper's Origin there isn't that big an advantage.


	11. S1E6 Assault Part 1

**Season 1 Episode 6: Assault (Part 1)**

Again, this chapter breaks 5000 words. Sorry for the lack of an informational background article here. I was in kind of a hurry to publish this.

Recommended music? SOCOM 3 Assault Theme or Modern Warfare 2 Intro Theme.

* * *

_Stargate Command_

General O'Neill didn't know if he was cut out to be the SGC commander or not. Sure, a lot of stuff could be (and had to be) kicked upstairs now, but spending most of his life sticking it to the man, he wasn't sure if he could be the man. So far he had received an "administrative assistant" who was actually a spy for the oversight council, locked two bickering alien ambassadors in the same room, and had an alien plant invading the R&D section of the base.

The worst part was that SG-1 was missing, presumed captured. They had gone with SG-3 to P2X-887 where Anubis had left an outpost. SG-3 was ordered to guard the gate. An Al'kesh flew over the gate and they shot it down. Moments later the place was crawling with Jaffa. They had lost contact with SG-1 and been forced to retreat back to Earth.

And now Ba'al had decided to show his face. There was an incoming wormhole and a holographic Ba'al appeared in the gateroom.

"So what do you want?" O'Neill asked him.

"I have your friends. I propose an exchange."

"For who?"

"Camulus."

"Who?" This was a problem. Ba'al thought they had Camulus, but they didn't. Camulus had requested asylum, but they turned him away. If Ba'al thought they had Camulus, then he must be in hiding.

"I will send you a gate address. You will send him to me if you ever want to see your friends alive again."

"Let me think about it."

Ba'al smirked. "You have one day." He disappeared and the gate shut down.

"Why did we let him go?" O'Neill asked Gilmor, his "administrative assistant".

"You would have to ask Doctor Weir about that sir," he replied.

"Right. And just how would I do that?"

"Find a ZPM, perhaps."

"Ah," O'Neill paused. "What about the tracking bugs?" Each of the System Lords that visited was planted with a tiny tracking bug. A marvel of miniaturization, it contained a tiny naquadah generator and subspace transmitter. They could be detected and located from Earth out to halfway across the galaxy using a specially tuned sensor array.

"You're asking the wrong person, General," Gilmor replied as they walked into the control room.

"Walter! Can we locate Camulus using the tracking bugs?"

"Yes sir." He typed in a few commands on his computer and brought up a map of the galaxy.

"Here, sir," he pointed to a planet. "P3R-434. It has a Stargate, but it's unexplored."

"All right," O'Neill said, "Now might be a good time to try out one of the new A-3s. Load one up with a troop bay and a sensor array." The A-3 was a multipurpose craft, likened to a helicopter. Despite the A- designation, it could be configured as a troop carrier, a cargo carrier, or a bomber. It almost completely lacked wings, being sized to barely fit through a gate and using Asgard technology for propulsion and lift. In addition to a 20mm Gatling gun (it could be swapped for a railgun or Mk 19 grenade machine gun) it was equipped with shields and a short-range hyperdrive.

* * *

O'Neill watched the A-3 carefully maneuver through the large door leading into the gateroom. The new gateroom was bigger, yet more defensible. There were four (comparatively speaking) small but tough blast doors, one on each side and two in front of the gate. The large door lead into a staging area, as did the two smaller ones. From the staging area there were tunnels to vehicle bays. The control room was in the same relative position, but larger and more modern. There were shields in addition to the blast doors, and one over the gate. The iris had been kept, because it would still work if the power went offline.

"Chevron seven locked!" The A-3 slid sideways in front of the gate after it engaged. It was a sleek craft, even with the almost comical stub wings and inward-angled fins and the fat body. It was painted low-visibility grey and had black AESF markings on the fins, wings and fuselage. Inside, SG-3 and SG-114 checked their armour and weapons. The pilot engaged the cloaking device and it disappeared from view.

"First time through the gate?" Reynolds asked Lieutenant Roberts.

"No sir," she replied, "But it's my first real mission with the AESF. That goes for the rest of my team too." Her team was the usual four members. Sergeant Edward Lewis, formerly SAS, her right-hand man and 2IC. Martha Brown, her tech specialist, was once on a police bomb squad and that was about all she knew about her. Master Corporal Gal Chazan said he was IDF before, but Roberts suspected he was more than that.

"You get used to it," Reynolds replied as they flew through.

* * *

_P3R-434_

The planet was a barren wasteland. There were some ruins and a bit of forest here and there, but the planet was mostly desert. "There. Two hundred klicks from the gate. Looks like a crashed cargo ship," the copilot said.

They landed almost beside the ship. "All right. SG-114 has this one. Get in, get him, get out. Remember we need him alive. SG-3 will provide backup if necessary."

SG-114 dashed out of the A-3 and approached the cargo ship carefully. "One lifesign inside. Definitely a snakehead," Roberts said. She tried the door controls. They didn't respond at all.

"Breach it," she ordered. Brown attached a small explosive charge to the door and detonated it. It blew the door to pieces and they filed in.

Camulus sat in a corner. He reached for a zat, but before he could fire Sergeant Lewis shot him with his own zat.

"Handcuff him and drag him out," Roberts ordered, examining the inside of the ship. It was a mess. Bits and pieces of Goa'uld technology, storage crates, and what looked like rotten food were strewn around the floor. It was filthy with sand and dirt everywhere. Sergeant Lewis carried Camulus back to their ship as the others did a quick search.

"Some crystals, half-rotten food, a zat gun," Chazan said, picking through a pile of junk, "Some of it could be valuable, but I think it is mostly worthless." He pocketed the zat and left the rest.

"Got the main memory bank," Brown reported, pulling a rack of crystals from under a console. "Might be some data of use on it."

Roberts decided she had looked enough. "All right, take it. I think we're done here."

* * *

_Stargate Command_

"You would not believe what it was like for me," Camulus spat at O'Neill, "Losing everything to Ba'al. Then being shot down over a wasteland and left to die."

"Oh, spare me the pleasantries. Ba'al has three of my people. And he's offered up an exchange."

"For me."

"Any idea why?"

"There are many possible reasons."

"Pick one."

Camulus stayed silent.

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't turn you over."

"Ba'al cannot be trusted. No matter what you do, he will never return your friends to you."

"So? I don't like you and you don't like me. I'd be glad to just get rid of you right here and right now. The fact is, you're safer here than you are out there."

"So you offer me asylum?"

"Sure. But I need something in return."

Camulus paused. "I can tell of a planet where there is a device created by the Ancients."

"What's it do?"

"I do not know. I never could discover its secrets. Perhaps you can."

"You think this is what Ba'al is really after?"

"While I never disclosed its location, I once bragged that I had found the device at a meeting of the System Lords. It is possible."

"All right. I'll see what I can do."

* * *

SG-17 was the team assigned to the mission. They came back in less than an hour, having had no luck with the device but nevertheless found something of interest.

"A ZPM," O'Neill said, holding the yellow crystal object. "Lovely." He put it back in the case. "Have the science teams check it over. Just in case."

"Sir, the science section of the base is completely closed off because of the plant," Gilmor told him, "It's going to have to wait to be examined."

"All right. We're in no hurry."

"Oh, and Colonel Reynolds would like to talk to you. He's waiting in briefing room two."

"Sir, we're willing to do whatever it takes to get SG-1 back," Reynolds said as O'Neill entered.

"I know."

"That's not all, sir. What if we attack a high value target?"

"Are you insane?"

"No sir. In fact I think it is possible. If Ba'al wants to play hardball, we can play it too."

"It's not your decision. In fact, I'm not even sure if it's mine."

"I understand sir, I just wanted to put that possibility out there."

* * *

O'Neill thought about it for a while. Reynolds was right- they had enough people and equipment to commit to a medium-scale assault. Not a huge one, but even a small combined-forces assault would be the largest in the history of the SGC- so far, anyway. But what would the target be? It would have to be one of Ba'al's worlds, something high in value but not overly well defended.

Tartarus. The Kull production facility. And more than that now. According to the reports he had been getting, it now had a significant industrial complex. The one map they had from the Tok'ra showed a large city near the stargate- an industrial city full of Goa'uld factories. Goa'uld factories. That was something hard to imagine, but they obviously had them somewhere. And there were more cities like it all over the planet, with mines, shipyards, and probably other things in between. They didn't have enough forces to take the whole planet, but the city by the stargate was the capitol. The shipyards and industry were nice. But the Kull facility was the only one in the entire galaxy. They would go in, push through the city, and destroy the Kull facility.

It was a show of force more than anything. They could just send nukes through the gate or bombard the place from orbit. Well, the stargate did have a shield. They would have to take it down first. Maybe the Tok'ra could help?

One thing was certain- he would have to kick this one upstairs. He picked up the phone and called General Hammond.

Surprisingly, even the oversight council thought an assault on Tartarus was a good idea. "In terms of sheer destructive power, the AESF is the most powerful military force in the world," General Hammond explained, "And we still haven't engaged the enemy in any meaningful way."

"Sir, the AESF is less than a year old! Much less!" O'Neill had replied.

"I know. The people upstairs think it would be good for public relations if we, and this is what they said, actually do something. I've looked over the numbers. We should be able to take out at least the Kull facility and most of the city."

"So, do I have a go?"

"Yes, but there's one more thing, Jack. They want a reporter in there for PR reasons. Her name is Amanda Somers."

A reporter was about the last thing he needed. That was the only real bad news. A force of twenty-five M301 tanks, fifty M302 troop carriers each loaded with two SG teams as well as an aerial support consisting of forty-eight F-306/F-2 fighters and ten A-3s could be deployed within twenty-four hours. They were able to contact the Tok'ra who would be able to shut down the shield.

The best news came from the rebel Jaffa. Apparently there had been unrest on Tartarus for some time. When the Tau'ri invaded and destroyed the capitol, the rebellion would rise up. There was a good chance that they could not only destroy the Kull facility but the entire planet.

They were up against a lot, though. Thousands of Jaffa in the city alone. An unknown number of Kull Warriors. And an armoured vehicle O'Neill immediately dubbed the "Scorpion". It had an energy weapon on the front, could probably take at least one hit from an antitank weapon, and carried ten Jaffa. The really worrying part was that it carried what was basically a Goa'uld missile system. The missiles could hit ground or air targets, but they didn't know how powerful, how fast or how many a Scorpion carried. Fortunately, Ba'al didn't seem to have many Scorpions.

It wouldn't be easy. But they could do it.

Probably.

* * *

SG-114 was put with SG-115 in M302 number 28. Lieutenant Roberts knew that. She didn't know they would have a reporter stuck with them. "Lieutenant Roberts!" her immediate superior, Major Jenkins, barked. He was in charge of M302s #25 to #30 and the troops within. They both wore the standard AESF uniform. They wouldn't leave for several more hours so only security personnel were wearing armour.

She walked past M302 #28. The vehicle bay was a lot larger than she thought it would be. "Sir!"

There was a third person with him, a civilian woman with longish brown hair.. _I hope she isn't what I think she is._

She was. "I'd like you to meet Amanda Somers. She's a reporter from the- what was it again?"

"Right now, for a press pool, since they would only let one reporter go. This is my first time attached to a combat unit."

Roberts took Major Jenkins aside. "Sir," she said quietly, "The last thing I need is a reporter! Can't you put her with a more experienced unit?"

"I knew you wouldn't like it- hell, I don't like it either. But it's not my decision."

"She has no idea what she's going into, does she?"

"Beats me. She just got here about ten minutes ago."

Roberts took a deep breath. "Fine. Is she fitted for armour?"

"Yep, already manufactured. Should be waiting in armoury 1-D."

She turned to the reporter. "I'm Lieutenant Roberts, commander of SG-114. You'll be with us for this mission." They shook hands. "Come with me."

"Am I going to get a bulletproof vest?" Amanda asked as they walked toward the armory. She heard stories where reporters went into combat situations with nothing.

The lieutenant just laughed. Did she have any idea what she was getting into? "First off, there's no such thing as a bulletproof vests. There are soft bullet-resistant vests- those are the kind you see on TV. They're pretty much only useful against pistol rounds. Then there are plate carriers, which use hard ceramic plates. Those will stop rifle bullets- sort of. Both are pretty much useless against the energy weapons the Goa'uld use."

"So we're just going to be exposed?"

"Nope. We have something way better. You'll see," she changed topics. "Have you ever shot a gun?"

"Why? I thought journalists weren't allowed to carry guns. Non-combatants under the Geneva Conventions."

Roberts laughed again. "The Geneva Conventions mean absolutely zilch out there. You'll want a gun, trust me. But armor first." She opened the armory door.

"Are those what I think they are?" the reporter asked, looking at the Aegis suits. She pulled out a camera and took a picture. Melissa didn't stop her. The AESF would go through everything anyway and decide what could and couldn't be published.

"That one's yours," she pointed, and then an ordinance technician spent the next fifteen minutes walking Somers through putting on the armour.

"This is weird," she said, "It feels... floaty."

"You'll get used to it. The Aegis suit is a full powered exoskeleton- it has to be since the actual armor is so heavy. The control interface is on your left forearm, and you can also use voice commands. They haven't been able to get the neural interface working properly."

"Wow," Somers breathed, "And I thought Future Force Warrior was cool."

"The communication and sensor system interlinks with other units in a mesh network. Speaking of sensors, they are alien in origin- way better than radar, LIDAR, or IR. Air is always filtered and you have an independent air supply good for at least ninety minutes. There's an integrated heating and cooling system that will even work in space. It's got shields and inertial dampeners in addition to the trinium alloy and composite armour. And it's powered by a small naquadah reactor."

"Seriously? Shields?"

"Yup. You can probably take a few hits from staff weapons. Right now we are the toughest, fastest, deadliest soldiers on this planet. And argubly the best in the galaxy. You can play with it later, though. We've got to get the rest of your kit."

She handed Amanda a tactical vest. "It may seem like an anachronism but it's the best we've been able to figure out." She helped Amanda put it on then went on to the holsters. "This one's for your pistol. Are you left or right handed?"

"Right."

She attached it to the reporter's right hip. "It goes on this side." She grabbed two knifes, both in holsters and pulled out the first one. "Standard Ka-bar knife. Nothing special. Better for slashing than for stabbing." She put it back in and pulled out the other. It was a very thin, very pointy blade. "This one's a trinium alloy knife, super sharp and super pointy. We think it can penetrate Kull armor. Careful- it can penetrate your armor too." She put it back in and attached both to the armored journalist.

"Do I really need two knives and a gun?" she asked.

"Better to have them and not need them." She picked up the pistol and handed it to Amanda. "Standard Five-Seven pistol. Put it in your holster for now. I'll show you how to fire it in a minute."

She led Amanda down the hall to the shooting range and got three magazines for each weapon from the technician there.

"All right. It should be pretty obvious how the magazine goes in. Put it in, then pull back the slide and let it go. Don't push it forward." She watched the journalist carefully as she did so. "Good." They could use holographic targets, but the lieutenant preferred real ones. She attached a paper target to the clip on the carriage and pushed a button, sending it downrange.

Amanda held the gun in one hand, on a diagonal, and shaky. "That's all wrong. You can shoot with one hand, but the Weaver stance is better. Support your right hand with your left. That's right."

"What's this circle and dot I'm seeing?" Amanda asked.

"Targeting reticule. Like a video game, almost. The dot is where the bullet is calculated to hit. It will probably hit inside the circle. It's pretty accurate. You can disengage the safety and start shooting now." The first few shots were slow. As she got more confident, they got more accurate and closer together.

"All right, you can shoot the next two magazines. I want to see how well you do."

Amanda ejected the magazine, loaded the next and racked the slide. She put both hands on the pistol, brought it up, and aligned the dot with the center of the target. She emptied the entire magazine in seconds. The next magazine she took more time with and was more accurate, almost all the shots within the inner ring.

"It's fun, isn't it, Ms. Somers."

"Yeah. I never thought it would be. And you can call me Amanda."

"Melissa." They shook hands again. "Pretty good for your first time," Melissa said as they left.

"That was fun. But I hope I don't have to use that when we're out there." Amanda finished soberly.

"I can't guarantee it either way," the Lieutenant answered as they walked back to the vehicle bay.

There was a pile of bags in front of their APC. "Your stuff?"

"Yeah. I don't think I'll be needing much of it out there, though."

"You're right about that," Roberts said, giving her a small camo-patterned bag. "Put all the stuff you need in here. You won't need food, clothes, or toiletries."

"Am I right in thinking that I'm not going to wash every two days?"

"Uh-huh. I hope you had a shower this morning, because it'll be your last one until we get back. You shouldn't get that dirty in your armor, though."

"Can I get an interview with you? Since it's my job and all."

"Sure. I've got nothing to do until the REMFs get everything figured out."

She extracted the camera from her bag and turned it on. They spent the next ten minutes on how the AESF was organized, what Roberts did, what commanding SG-114 was like, what they did offworld. Amanda saved the question she wanted to ask the most for last.

"I understand you fought to join the Army before you were transferred to the AESF. Some people think that women shouldn't be allowed to serve in combat positions."

"Those people can go fuck themselves." It was a sensitive issue from her. "Before disclosure, I could understand some of the complaints. Physically weaker. Vulnerable to rape. Could cause problems with unit cohesion. Colonel Carter has been here over seven years and is one of the most respected people on this base. The AESF is shooting for a 50-50 mix. If we can do that, then it becomes no more expensive to bunk women than men- that's pure statistics. There aren't any problems with the men staring at the women or having sex in storage rooms. There's no lack of trust or sex discrimination. Technology has changed a lot of armored soldier is a lot tougher than an unarmored one, even if she is female."

"Thank you. Amanda Somers, reporting from Stargate Command.

* * *

The journalist, Amanda Somers, looked very nervous and had elevated vitals. "Relax," Roberts said, trying to calm her down as they waited inside their vehicle. It was cramped with the ninth person and all the equipment inside. "You'll be fine."

"It seemed like a good idea- going with our soldiers, showing what they're like, how it is out there and all that," she paused. "Now it just scares the hell out of me. You do this every day?"

"Not every day," Sergeant Lewis said, "Perhaps every second or third."

"Here we go," the driver said from the front, "Hoo-rah!"

On the other side, the first vehicles through formed a defensive semicircle. They moved outward as the other vehicles came through the stargate. They were on the edge of the city. There were Jaffa everywhere, but it was suicidal for them. They were constantly being mowed down by the railguns on the M302s and the gatling and machine guns on the M301 tanks. Overhead, death gliders were engaged in dogfights against F-1s.

Amanda almost threw up as she watched the video feed from outside. They killed almost a billion humans, so it was probably justified, but it was sickening to watch.

"All right, we're tasked to take out the Kull facility," Major Jenkins's voice said over the comm, "We'll move into the city some more then dismount. We expect heavy resistance, repeat heavy resistance."

"Roger that we are oscar mike." Oscar Mike was the code for "On the Move", based on the NATO phonetic alphabet. The vehicle suddenly shook. Staff cannon. The gunner slung the turret around and put a burst of 4.5mm railgun rounds into the stationary weapon and its operator.

* * *

They advanced slowly but steadily into the Goa'uld city. The buildings were of typical primitive Goa'uld design. They also tended to be full of armed Jaffa. The Asgard sensors could usually pick up if there were armed Jaffa inside or not. When they detected one, the gunner would hose the window openings with the railgun. At least the place had decent roads. Except that meant every cross street could be an ambush.

In fact, one was. There was one Scorpion on each side and several staff cannons. Jaffa filled the adjacent buildings. "Hold up. Probable ambush point ahead," Jenkins said. The column of armored vehicles stopped. He requested air support and was told there was none available. The death gliders were vastly inferior to F-1s but there were a lot more of them. "Negative on air support. We're going to have to take this one out ourselves. Dismount!"

Amanda hesitated, but Sergeant Lewis tapped her on the shoulder and gestured to the open door. She followed the soldiers out of the vehicle.

"All right, here's the plan," Roberts said, "We go around through that back alley and shoot them in the back. Let's move." She led them through the alley and around in a half-circle, edging along next to the buildings. "Wait," she said, peering around the corner. "The other team isn't in position yet... now they are." She pulled the pin out of a grenade, released the fly-off handle, counted to three, and threw. Lewis and Chazan did the same.

Seconds later, they opened fire on the enemy position. With all their defenses pointed the other way, they had no cover and no mounted weapons. Lewis put a three-round burst into a Jaffa, then another, then another. He reloaded and fired a longer burst into a group of Jaffa, then winced as a staff blast was deflected by his shields.

On the main road two M301 tanks moved in side-by-side, each engaging a Scorpion. They fired their powerful railguns, but the Scorpions had shields. They fired again, dropping the enemy shields and destroying the Scorpions, but by this time the Scorpions had launched their missiles. The missiles were cigar-shaped with forward-curving fins. Three launched from each vehicle. They came down on top of the M301 tanks and exploded, dropping their shields

At the same time, a flight of twelve death gliders came down on top of them. They fired at them with missiles and guns, shooting down six before they dropped their bombs. Three more were hit, one crashing immediately, one exploding midair and the last limping away heavily damaged.

"Move, move! Get out of the way of the bombs!" Jenkins yelled before two of the plasma charges destroyed his vehicle, killing him instantly. Two more Scorpions charged head-on toward their column. Both tanks had lost shields and one was dead in the water. They both fired on the same Scorpion, but the frontal armor was thicker and tougher. It was down but not out. Both Scorpions began firing on the M301s with their rapid fire energy cannons.

"Damn it! We've run into a heavy pocket of Goa'uld forces, requesting backup!" Roberts yelled. "Two Scorpions inbound- Kull!" she yelled. The Kull had taken them by surprise, coming in right behind them. There were five of them- one each, Robert thought humorously. Her SCAR-H rifle was equipped with an underbarrel 40mm grenade launcher. She fired it at the Kull furthest away. It seemed to injure but didn't kill him. The Kull returned fire with their plasma repeaters, sending them scrambling for cover. Roberts dragged Amanda behind a piece of destroyed Scorpion, then reloaded the grenade launcher. She stood up and fired it, but by this time the Kull were mere meters away and it did not detonate. She emptied the entire magazine into the Kull, and to her left Amanda did the same with her pistol, to the surprise of both.

"What the hell are those?" she asked as she reloaded from behind cover.

"Kull Warriors. Created by Anubis, now Ba'al has them. Real tough motherfuckers."

Chazan had the M107 rifle. Two of the Kull were moving to flank Roberts. He shot one in the head then wheeled around and swung the rifle at the Kull behind him. The back of the gun hit him in the head, and Master Corporal Chazan wasted no time hitting it in the head again. Just to make sure, he drove his sharp anti-Kull knife through his neck. Two down, three to go.

Something grabbed Amanda by the arm and pulled her up. The Kull had flanked them! She made a clumsy effort to parry as the... thing punched her in the chest. The impact was absorbed by her armor, and she grappled for her knife. She managed to get it out and into the Kull's leg as it hooked her leg and pulled her to the ground. The Kull stumbled backwards, and fell. She crawled over, pulled out the knife and stabbed it again, in the neck.

Her hands began to shake as she watched the thing die. The adrenaline began to leave her system and she suppressed the urge to vomit. "Oh my..." After an indeterminate amount of time she got up.

"It's dead," Roberts said gently, sheathing her own knife. "Wasn't really human anyway."

"I just-"

"Killed? It was him or you. After a while you get numbed to it. Being able to kill people and live with it is part of being a soldier."

"I thought you said he isn't really human?"

"No, but the Jaffa are. I'm sorry, he's the first but he won't be the last. The column's been decimated. We're moving ahead on foot. You could go back, but you'll be safer with us."

"Okay." She tried to push negative thoughts aside.

"Take this," Roberts handed her a SCAR-H rifle and several full magazines. "Charging handle is on the side. Put the magazine in, pull it back and release. The safety is a fire selector- full auto, three-round burst, single shot and safe. It's smart-linked so the position should show up on your HUD. Are you ready?"

"As ready as I'll ever be," the journalist said, loading the rifle. It would make a hell of a story.

If she got out alive.

* * *

This chapter is long but a bit rough. I should have polished it more but wanted to get it up quickly. I also wrote a much longer part about capturing Camulus, but scrapped it as it just didn't fit or feel right. If you think I put that part in because I screwed up, you're right. I got rid of Camulus in New Order because I thought it wouldn't matter. I'm going to be more careful and plan things out better from now on.

The journalist thing was ripped off from Rise of The Tau'ri. Sorry, but I liked the idea. It'll be handled much differently, though. The part about bathing every two days is also a reference. As usual, I was very uncreative with names. Usually I just look up lists of the most common names, because I really do suck with them.

SGD will be put on the backburner for a while. It will still be updated, but less frequently. This is going to be a very long fic. I'm still enthusiastic for it, but an episode a week is just too fast. SGW is coming soon. It was originally an idea for a mod I had, but since that isn't going to happen I think I'm going to roll it into a fic.

Please leave a review. I want your feedback!


	12. S1E7 Battlefield Part 2

Pushing 7000 words unpadded, this is easily the longest thing I've ever written. I apologize for the lack of an informational article up here. I wanted to get this episode up as soon as possible. It probably should have been two chapters in retrospect.

Some more open(ish) war, some more SG-114. Almost too much. Don't worry, it's not going to be all about SG-114. They will definitely be recurring, though.

Music suggestions: Halo 3 – To The Citadel or Socom 3 Assault Theme

* * *

_Earth_

General Hammond sighed. It was a stressful job. He had command of what was possibly the most powerful military on Earth. It was small, but growing, and at least three technological generations ahead of anything anyone else had.

The sheer amount of things that had to be decided was enormous. Everything from uniforms to the standard combat knife to what songs were to be played at special events had to be decided. Choices had to be weighted and decided. Despite his competent staff, a lot of things ended up in General Hammond's office. But the pattern on the AESF challenge coin was the least of his problems right now.

Right now SG-1, Earth's flagship team, was missing. He had just authorized a comparatively large scale assault, risking half of the AESF's strength. And he may have just sent a reporter to her death.

He couldn't imagine what it was like for O'Neill. The new General put it best- "I've spent so much time sticking it to the man, I don't know if I can be the man."

* * *

_Tartarus_

Lieutenant Roberts decided to at least try to report in. She managed to get a good connection on the first shot. "This is Lieutenant Roberts. Our column's been hit, all vehicles are out of action. SG-114, SG-115, part of SG-113 and two vehicle crewmen have survived. We plan to continue on foot."

"Roger that," Colonel Reynolds replied. He was currently commander of the forces in the field. "Understood. What about Ms. Somers?"

"She's fine. A little shaken up but okay."

"Roger that. I take it you're currently in charge?"

"Major Jenkins and his second-in-command was killed when the column was attacked. That leaves me or Lieutenant Weber, sir."

The Colonel made a snap decision. He technically did have the authority, "You're in charge, Captain. Give 'em hell. Reynolds out."

"Congratulations, Captain," Somers said. She didn't look like a journalist in full armor and holding the 20" marksman-length SCAR-H with one hand.

They went back to the destroyed vehicles before moving out. "We can't stay here long," Roberts said. "Search the wreckage. We're looking for weapons and ammo, but food and water could be useful too. We have five minutes, then we're moving out."

She went into a still semi-burning M302 troop carrier and emerged with a backpack, a few spare magazines and a silenced pistol a minute later. She handed them to Somers. "Sorry. You're going to have to carry these. Switch the pistol with the one you have right now- keep them both. We might need to be stealthy up ahead. That goes for everyone. Lieutenant Weber, switch your pistol with Sergeant Hu's M91."

"We've taken everything worth taking," Lewis said, "I recommend we move out now."

"I agree. Everyone on me. Command, we are oscar mike en route to the Kull facility."

All over Tartarus the Jaffa were beginning to rise up. Loyal Jaffa fought rebels who were their friends only hours before. About a kilometer, two groups of Jaffa were fighting. The rebels were holed up in one building, the loyalists in another across the street. Both took potshots at each other, but neither side had any heavy weapons capable of damaging the sturdy stone construction.

"Weapons fire," Sergeant Lewis reported, "Looks like the loyalists and the rebels are going against each other." They could hear staff weapons

"How do we tell which is which?" Lieutenant Weber asked.

"We'll sneak around to the right and storm the back of the building. If they shoot at us, we kill everyone inside. If they don't, we storm the other building together." Captain Roberts explained.

"Silenced weapons?" Chazan asked.

"Don't bother. They'll have someone guarding the back door. Both of them. And they'll probably see us anyway. UCP pattern isn't worth shit in this environment." Roberts said. The UCP pattern, sometimes referred to as ACUPAT, was designed as a universal camouflage pattern for the US Army. The grey-green-tan pattern wasn't suited well for any particular environment. A universal pattern was chosen because armour couldn't be swapped out like a normal uniform. An adaptive camouflage system was in development but not available yet at that point.

"Too right."

"Captain, why don't we just bomb the Kull facility?" Amanda asked as they began to move out.

"It's too heavily fortified. No doubt they have a lot of triple-A around it. And we've been hearing reports that it's shielded as well."

"So how do we get in?"

"A wise man once said 'We'll cross that bridge when we come to it.' And C4 is always useful in situations like this." Roberts raised her fist. "Hold up. Patrol coming up. Into the alley, move!"

"Get ready," she said as the Jaffa began marching noisily by. "Open fire on my mark."

She tossed a grenade into the group of Jaffa and they immediately began to scatter. The explosion of the grenade killed two instantly, bits of razor-sharp shrapnel punching straight through their armor. Two others fell to the ground, wounded to the point of uselessness. The other Jaffa began firing wildly into the alley.

Amanda brought up the SCAR-H rifle and clumsily took aim at a Jaffa wearing gold-trimmed armor. She pulled the trigger, putting a burst of seven rounds through his chest. An eighth bullet hit him in his exposed neck. It passed through his jugular vein, causing a geyser of blood to flow out. He grasped his neck as he fell, struggling to breathe and went into cardiac arrest in seconds.

She moved to another Jaffa, spraying the remainder of her magazine into the upper half of him. There was very little recoil, though this was thanks to the armour, not the gun. He tried to scream but couldn't as his perforated lungs deflated. Amanda pulled out the magazine, threw it aside and shoved in a new one, wincing as a staff blast was deflected by her shields. By the time she had the rifle ready to fire, the Jaffa were all dead.

The battle was over. She stared at the dead Jaffa in horror as the adrenaline drained from her body. The first one she had killed lay in a pool of his own blood. There was a lot of blood. Almost all of it had drained out onto the ground, staining the sandy ground crimson. "Oh my... what have I..."

She recovered quicker than last time and got to her feet. Roberts searched the body of the dead Jaffa, covering her forearms and gloves in blood. She found what she was looking for quickly. It was a flat device about the size of a large watch and in the ornate style of the Goa'uld. "Communicator," she explained, "We haven't been able to tap into their communications net, but with this we can listen in. See that S-shaped thing in the dead Jaffa's hand?"

"Yeah," the journalist said weakly.

"Take it. It's a zat'nik'tel. Quiet and you don't have to worry about ammo. One squeeze opens it and there's a trigger hiding there. You'll find it when it's in your hand. One shot stuns, two shots kill, three shots disintegrates- but we don't do that often since it drains the power cell a LOT faster."

Amanda grabbed the zat, almost dropping it as it was smeared with blood. She wiped it on the ground and was thankful for the third time that day for her completely sealed armour. She didn't want to know what dead aliens smelled like or what their blood felt like. It was actually almost the same as humans.

"Alright. Let's move out." They headed toward the occupied building, reaching the back door in minutes. The sun was beginning to dip below the horizon. It would be night soon.

"Rules of engagement?" Lewis asked.

"Shoot only if they shoot at us first. We'll knock first, but if there's no response we kick down the door with weapons raised. I don't want any fuckups people. Our allies could be in there. On the other hand, it could be a trap." She moved to the side of the door and rapped on it three times.

There was some scuffling and shouting inside, and the sound of a staff weapon charging up. "Identify yourselves," a gruff voice said from inside. No doubt they had considered it was a trap as well.

"Captain Melissa Roberts, Allied Earth Space Forces."

"You may come in. One at a time. Let us make sure you are who you say you are."

She opened the door and stepped inside. The building was dirty and there were supplies stacked everywhere. Something similar to sandbags covered the doors and windows of the first storey. A ladder lead upstairs. Armed Jaffa pointed staff weapons at her. They looked like rebels, but they couldn't be sure.

A Jaffa wearing tattered clothing and bearing the mark of Ba'al seemed to be their leader. The same gruff voice ordered them to stand down. "I am Rak'tel of the Jaffa Rebellion. You may bring in the rest of your group."

As they filed in, Roberts asked, "What's the situation?"

"Ba'al's forces are in the building directly across from us. They have a new weapon. It is very accurate. They aim for the head and kill whoever is exposed. Only eleven of our number remain and supplies are running short."

"Sniper," Chazan said. So the Goa'uld were finally getting smart. "Any idea where he is?"

"The weapon is in the other building, but other than that I can tell you no more. If they attack again we will surely be finished."

"I'll bet that bastard picks the defenders off as they try to fend off an assault," Lewis said.

"All right. Chazan, grab your rifle. You're with me. We're going to take out this bastard."

They headed up the ladder and hit the deck. There was the unmistakable crack of a gunshot and a bullet smacked into the wall behind Chazan. They crawled closer to the window and Chazan poked his rifle over the edge.

The sniper's shot, ironically killed him. The sensor suite and computer inside Chazan's armour examined bullet trajectory, acoustic data and muzzle flash to pinpoint the location of the sniper. Roberts's armour did the same and the data was instantly transferred to the whole squad. Chazan got down behind his M107 rifle, took aim at the third window and fired.

There was a massive report and muzzle flash from the .50 BMG cartridge. The large Raufoss Mk. 211 round was designed to destroy tanks. It hit the Jaffa sniper in the shoulder, blowing the bones to pieces and causing catastrophic hydrostatic shock. A cloud of blood, bone and flesh formed as the high explosive detonated. He was dead in microseconds.

Roberts and Chazan came back downstairs triumphant. "We got your sniper."

"Thank you," Rak'tel said, "But it is not over. They will surely send more warriors."

"We can't stay here long. The Kull facility is our main objective."

"I understand. Even if you could help us once it would make a difference. Ba'al's forces are growing weak in the city."

The communicator Roberts pulled off the dead Jaffa began to make noise. She pulled it out of the pocket and smacked it once. She didn't speak Goa'uld but her suit did have a built-in translator.

"Uh oh. They're coming here," she said.

"So will you help us?" the Jaffa leader asked.

"No promises, but I'll talk to command." She did. After an agonizing ten seconds, Reynolds gave her approval to stay and assist the Jaffa.

"Looks like you're in luck," she said. "We have some time, and I'm tired of this 'enriched water' shit. Even an MRE ought to be an improvement."

"A meal before battle would do us good," Rak'tel agreed.

"Somers, take off your pack," she did so and Roberts pulled out several brown plastic packages from it.

"MRE's," she explained as she tossed several packs to the bewildered Jaffa, "Military rations. Food."

Rak'tel tore open his MRE and was greeted by an array of boxes and plastic packages. It was extremely confusing, bearing little resemblance to Jaffa marching rations.

"It comes with a main course, side dish, dessert, cracker, spread, coffee powder, beverage, utensils, and the all-important flameless ration heater."

"Flameless ration heater?"

"You can eat these cold, but they taste a lot better hot. Which isn't saying much." She demonstrated, tearing open the ration heater and dropping the entree (Beef Steak in her case) into it. She added water and the chemical heater began to react. "Careful. It gets kinda hot."

The Jaffa and other soldiers did the same. "It's not kosher," Chazan said, "But right now, I'll take it."

"Oh come on," Martha teased, "I saw you eating bacon this morning."

They removed their helmets as the packets began to heat up. Roberts couldn't feel how hot it was through her gloves. After waiting several minutes, she announced that they were ready to eat.

Amanda pulled her meal out of the heater quickly, spilling hot water all over her forearms. She also craved real food. She ripped open the package and took a bite out of what was supposed to be chicken breast and nearly spat it out.

The Jaffa were similarly disgusted with the food, but most had tasted worse and all knew that they needed to eat. Even so, some visibly cringed. The AESF military members rolled their eyes.

"It is food, people, it will keep you alive!" Sergeant Lewis said.

"In Germany," Weber said between bites, "We have far better ration. With real food, even."

The discussion quickly turned to military rations.

"IMPs are much better. It's a wonder America wins any wars."

"Russian rations come in can. It is complete day's meal."

"Very funny, Ivan."

"That was not joke."

"I just wish your meals had Yorkie bars in them."

"Why did they go with MREs, anyway?"

"Because, Thomson, the SGC is in the United States. It makes sense to use what's there, doesn't it?"

Amanda ate her chicken quickly- the only way she thought she could get it down. She moved on to the cold fried rice and biscuit. She kept the chewing gum, beverage mix, matches and HOOAH! bar.

"What are Jaffa rations like, anyway?" Roberts asked.

"Mostly we are expected to live off the land and salvage what we can. But we do have a marching ration, the hal'tok'kel," Rak'tel handed her a small bar wrapped in something between paper and plastic. She pocketed it. "I know not of what it is made from."

"I wish I still had my camcorder," Amanda remarked as she put her helmet back on, "It sounds kind of stupid, but I think the world needs to see this. What you do out here, I mean."

There was an awkward pause. "Didn't the captain tell you?" Lewis said.

"Tell me what?"

"Your suit is always recording unless you turn it off. She did tell you that, right?"

"Nope," Roberts said, slightly embarassed, "I probably just forgot."

"So does that mean-" the journalist said excitedly.

"Yup. We got footage of everything. The destruction of the convoy, the firefight, the dinner. Probably enough to make a decent documentary. But enough of that. We should get some sleep while we still can. Weber, Hu, you've got first watch."

* * *

_Earth_

"Sir, the science teams have finally eradicated the plant," Gilmor reported to General O'Neill. "However Dr. Lee says there's something he wants you to see."

"Can it wait?" O'Neill asked.

"No, sir. He says it's very important."

O'Neill decided to check it out. Dr. Lee was a bit annoying and scientist-y, but he was a pretty smart guy. The science wing was on the other side of the base, and it took him ten minutes to get there.

"Basically, it shouldn't be glowing like this," Dr. Lee said. The ZPM they had received from Camulus sat on the table, and it was indeed glowing blue.

"Why is it?"

"I think it's the gamma radiation we used to kill the plant that revealed this. It illuminated a substance foreign to what we know to be part of the normal molecular structure of a ZPM."

"And what does that mean."

"It's been tampered with. The substance is highly explosive and detonated by electrical current. If we plugged it into the Antarctic outpost- imagine that. It could have destroyed the whole planet."

"All right. I think I'll be paying camel-ass a little visit."

It was a good thing he had kept him at the SGC. O'Neill had to back to the other side of the base to Camulus's cell.

"Ah, O'Neill. I was about to ask for-"

"What did you do to it?" O'Neill asked Camulus, cutting him off.

"I do not know what you are talking about."

"Oh, I think you know exactly what. You couldn't figure out the Ancient device, so you booby-trapped the power source. Clever. You thought maybe you could do some damage with it. Someone comes, they plug it in, BOOM!. Or better yet, they take it back with them and try it. BOOM! Bye bye Earth."

Camulus blinked. "Worth a try."

"How would like to kill Ba'al?"

"An exchange. You would like me to trade the Ancient device for the lives of your friends."

"Clever."

An hour later, Camulus left with the ZPM. SG-4 and SG-53 followed him through the stargate to a neutral planet.

"Sir, was it really wise to give him that ZPM? Ba'al could-"

The General cut Gilmor off. "I know. That's why I gave him the dead one."

* * *

_Tartarus_

Amanda Somers got what felt like ten minutes of sleep before she was rudely awakened. In reality, it had been about two and a half hours. The sun was already rising. "Get ready," Lieutenant Weber said, shaking her. "They are coming."

She went up the ladder to the second floor where most of the soldiers and Jaffa rebels were gathered. "They're probably going to come down the road in front of us," Roberts explained, "But we gotta be careful. They might try a flanking tactic. I want two machine guns in the front. Chazan, you're our sniper- I want you on the roof facing the front. Someone's going to have to watch the sides. Hu, you're on the left with Lieutenant Weber. Zlinkhov, you're on the right with Nakashima. I want two people on the ground floor in case they break through. Everyone else spread out. Rak'tel, position your warriors as you see fit. They'll be here any minute, people. Let's do this."

"Where do I go?" Amanda asked as people began positioning themselves.

"On the roof beside Chazan," Roberts said, then paused. "Look, I need to know that you can shoot to kill. I need to know that you can take orders. I realize that by all rights you shouldn't be here. I need you to act like a soldier, at least until this mission is over. Can you do that, Ms. Somers?"

She looked through the clear visor into the Captain's hard grey eyes. She took a deep breath and after what seemed like ages said, "Yes, captain, I think I can do that."

"Good. Get on the roof then. There's no time to waste."

The first Jaffa arrived only minutes later. They occupied the building across from their position. Jaffa in the building laid down cover fire as more attempted to rush the building. The soldiers in the building immediately opened fire. A dozen of Ba'al's Jaffa were cut down instantly.

Amanda aimed her SCAR-H rifle at a Jaffa and fired a burst of three rounds. The 7.62mm rounds passed right through his mostly decorative armour and into his chest, dropping him instantly. She shot two more Jaffa, then winced as a staff blast hit her in the shoulder. It was deflected by her shields, but she noticed the SSI (Shield Strength Indicator) bar shrink. She shot at another Jaffa, emptying the rest of the magazine and hitting him only in the legs. Amanda dropped down behind the lip at the edge of the roof and reloaded.

"They're coming around the back! Somers, Chazan, get to the back of the building! Lewis, get up there and reinforce them!"

Chazan slung his M107 rifle behind his back and pulled his M91 PDW from a hip holster. The PDW variant of the M91 was shorter and had no shoulder stock. It could take a 50-round magazine, but a special 30-round one was usually used as a 50-round mag would extend past the end of the barrel. Like the standard M91, it lacked conventional sights, relying on smart-linked optics.

"They're storming us, Captain!" Amanda yelled. There were fifteen of them almost at the back door. She opened fire wildly with her rifle, managing to hit and probably kill five with the spray.

"Short bursts, Amanda!" Master Corporal Gal Chazan said, firing his own weapon and taking down two Jaffa with one five-round burst.

"Got it," she replied, taking her time and shooting a Jaffa in the head.

"SCORPION!" someone yelled. The rooftop duo barely had time to get down before a barrage of plasma raked the walls and roof. "Zlinkhov, get that Javelin to the roof!"

"I have him," Chazan said. He poked the rifle over the edge of the roof, holding it with one hand. Aiming through the smart-linked scope, he fired twice into the rear of the vehicle where the engines were reported to be. The first round detonated on the shields. The penetrating core of the second passed through the fluctuating shields and through a power conduit. The vehicle, with power cut to the front hoverdrives, crashed to the ground. Chazan fired three more times. This time the rounds went straight through the armour and exploded, rendering the vehicle's reactor inoperable. The Scorpion was dead.

Lewis and Zlinkhov arrived on the roof. Zlinkhov put the Javelin down and they all fired on the Jaffa filing out of the Scorpion. Their victory didn't last long.

"Two more Scorpions, one coming in from the front, one coming in from the back!" Roberts yelled. "Take 'em out!"

Somers ended up with Zlinkhov against the front of the building. "Wait for tone, then press trigger!" he yelled, passing her the launcher.

"Where are you going?"

"To draw fire. You must shoot as soon as possible!" He got up and unleashed a burst at the Scorpion now bombarding the building with fire. Amanda brought up the launcher and waited two seconds for the tone. It seemed like a lot longer. Zlinkhov was hit twice by the Scorpion's plasma cannon before the missile hit it. The warhead exploded against the shields, severely weakening them. Two rifle grenades and a hand grenade shot forth from the building. They detonated, blowing holes through the thin trinium armour of the vehicle.

"Hit it with everything we've got!" Roberts yelled.

Amanda tossed the launcher back to Zlinkhov and opened fire with her rifle. She aimed at an area at the back of the vehicle caused by a grenade. The ball rounds penetrated the severely weakened armour, smashing engine, reactor, and crystal circuitry to bits.

Zlinkhov rushed to the back of the building and fired off a shot at the Scorpion behind them. The shields fluctuated from the warhead and Chazan used the chance to empty an entire magazine into the engine compartment. The Scorpion exploded spectacularily, it's reactor detonating. Before it exploded, a missile streaked upwards.

"HIT THE DECK! MISSILE!" Lewis yelled, diving.

* * *

_Earth_

SG-4 and SG-53 came through the stargate, but there was no SG-1 in site. "We let Camulus go, as per the plan," Major Bukolov reported. "We waited for hours but SG-1 did not arrive. I am sorry."

"Well, it was worth a try," O'Neill said.

"Sir, you just gave away a System Lord," Gilmor said.

"Eh, I didn't like him much anyway," O'Neill joked. Inside, he was pissed off that SG-1 was still in Ba'al's hands. _That snakehead son of a bitch!_

_

* * *

_

_Tartarus_

Amanda didn't have a chance to get down. The missile came down on top of the building and exploded. The naquadah warhead blew the roof and the top floor to bits. Amanda was swept off her feet, knocked off the building, and pelted with shrapnel.

She landed hard on the street. Again the Aegis armour had saved her life. The inertial dampers had softened the impact to survivable levels and the shields had protected her from the worst of the blast. The trinium armour and exoskeleton did the rest.

Her armour was dirty, blackened and dented in places, and she was lying on the ground at an awkward angle. Amanda staggered up, the shock of what had just happened still with her.

A Jaffa wearing gold-trimmed armour walked up to her. "Kneel for your true god, Ba'al!" he ordered, prodding her with his staff weapons.

"Fuck you," Amanda spat. She reached for her SCAR but realized it was not there, having been torn off by the blast. She pulled out both pistols and shot at the Jaffa.

The first few shots failed to penetrate the tougher armour that came with rank. The fourth shot was the first that broke through, passing through his stomach. The next few smashed through his ribs and deflated his lungs. Even a Jaffa could not survive two punctured lungs. Even so, Amanda emptied both magazines out of pure rage and spite.

She walked past several dead Jaffa lying in pools of their own blood. She was a lot colder about it this time. _These bastards blew up my convoy, shot at me, and blew me off a building!_ It wasn't far back to what was left of the building.

"There you are," Roberts said as she came inside. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Did the others on the roof make it?"

"We lost Zlinkhov," Roberts replied soberly, "Chazan is fine. Lewis is alive but he's buried under rubble. We're digging him out right now. Rak'tel lost four of his Jaffa- him and three of the others are wounded."

"Are they going to be okay?"

"We're doing the best we can. Jaffa are pretty tough, but there's no guarantees. Some of the injuries are pretty bad. Oh, and you dropped this." Roberts handed her the SCAR-H rifle.

Amanda took it and went over to where the injured Jaffa were. One was missing half his leg. Another had taken a staff blast to the chest. Two others had been hit by a lot of shrapnel. Rak'tel was missing one arm and had a collapsed lung. Martha Brown and Sergeant Hu tended to them. Amanda was both sickened by the injuries and really, really thankful for her armour.

Captain Roberts had followed her in. "How is he?" she asked, talking about Rak'tel.

"He's stable- for the moment. And he wants to talk to you."

"You must finish your mission!" Rak'tel said with surprising ferocity.

"And leave you here to die?" she shot back.

"We are Jaffa. Our wounds are bad, but we will survive or die whether you stay or not."

"If they attack again, you won't be able to survive it."

"And we will die free. You must go and destroy the Kull facility. With it gone Ba'al will have no more Kull warriors."

"Are you sure about this, Rak'tel?"

"I am sure."

"Alright. We'll leave some medical supplies and weapons here for you to use. We have an outpost about two klicks to the south. If you can make it there-"

"I doubt we will be able to make it there, but I thank you anyway. Now go!"

"Have we found Sergeant Lewis yet?" Roberts asked over the comm.

"Right here ma'am," he said, stepping into the room. His armour was filthy and dented in places but he was in better shape than Somers.

"All right. Grab what you need, we move out in three minutes."

* * *

_Earth_

"Unscheduled offworld activation!" Walter yelled, closing the iris.

General O'Neill rushed to the control room.

"Sir, it's SG-1."

"We are taking heavy fire! Sir, you have to open the iris!" Carter yelled. They were surrounded by Jaffa.

"Negative Colonel. You've been in enemy hands. Standard protocol dictates that you go to the Alpha Site."

"In enemy hands? What are you talking about, sir?"

"You were captured by Ba'al!"

"Negative- we were never captured! Sir my shields are down, I'm on my last magazine and there's nowhere to run. If you don't open the iris we're finished!"

"Sir, there recorders don't show any evidence of capture. Ba'al could have altered the data, though," Walter said, examining the feed from SG-1.

"Open the iris!" General O'Neill almost yelled. Screw standard protocol. He would never stop thinking of SG-1 as "his" team. "You're clear, Carter!"

Staff weapon blasts immediately began coming through the stargate- one of the reasons the security teams also wore armour. Moments later, SG-1 dashed through at a speed not normally associated with humans. O'Neill ordered the iris closed and ran down into the gateroom.

They were in a sorry state. Sam's armour was especially damaged. There were six burn marks in total where staff weapons had hit and melted part of the armour. All of them had dirty, dented armour. "What the hell happened?" O'Neill asked.

"We ringed down into Anubis's secret base. We decided to explore when we found we couldn't get back out. We were finally able to get out and headed straight for the gate, where we were ambushed," Carter explained.

"So you weren't captured by Ba'al?"

"No sir."

"Did you find any cool toys?"

"Sorry, sir, but no. It was pretty much cleaned out."

"Nuts," O'Neill said as they headed for the briefing room to debrief, "We invaded Tartarus."

Carter thought it was one of his jokes, "Funny."

"It's not a joke. The Tok'ra disabled the gate shield and we moved in. We're currently taking out key industrial areas and heading for their government buildings. One team was supposed to take out the Kull facility but they're a little behind schedule. The Rebel Jaffa are inciting a rebellion, and Ba'al's forces are being overwhelmed."

"Sir, we have to get back out there," Carter said after about five seconds of silence. "That Kull facility is a priority target, and if we destroy it-"

"Okay. They could use your help. Get your armour fixed and go to the staging area. I think we have an extra A-3 around somewhere."

* * *

_Tartarus_

"Hold up," Roberts ordered. "We're getting reinforced. An alpha-three should get here in a bit."

"And we just sit tight until then?" Brown asked. They were in the middle of a street.

"That building," Roberts gestured with her left hand. She found the door was locked and body-slammed it. The door broke off it's hinges in three pieces. A body-slam was preferred over the traditional kick since it distributed force more evenly. A trinium-toed kick from an augmented soldier would be just as likely to go right through the door as it would to knock it down.

The gathered inside as the A-3 flew overhead. It dived to low altitude and slowed down to a few hundred kilometers per hour. Airdrops were always exhilarating, watching or actually doing it. Roberts had done an AESF-style airdrop once. She watched as three armoured soldiers jumped out of the craft and landed, rolling as they hit the ground. What would be suicide for every other soldier was just a day at the office for the AESF.

"Three people?" the journalist commented, "Seems like kind of a waste."

"It isn't. Those aren't just any three people. That's SG-1."

They filed back outside to meet with the living legends. For better or for worse, it was all business.

"What's the situation, Captain?" Carter asked. It was more out of habit than anything.

"A dozen of us left, ma'am. SG-114, SG-115, one member of SG-113, and two vehicle crew. And the reporter. We held a building with some Jaffa- lost Zlinkhov but took out three Scorpions. We were on our way to the Kull facility when you showed up."

"That's not going to change. We'll sneak in under the cover of darkness. We have codes from the Tok'ra to get inside. We'll use them, blow the place, and move to this LZ where A-3s will be waiting. Move out."

They had to wait several hours for night to fall. When Lieutenant Colonel Carter was satisfied it was dark enough she gave the order to go. They approached the entrance as quietly as possible. Two guards stood in front of the door. Silenced weapons took care of them and they moved up.

Carter entered the codes into the door controls. It was important to get the sequence of hieroglyphs perfect- if she didn't it would probably raise an alarm. After a minute of tension, the door slid open.

They would split into three teams. Lieutenant Weber lead one team, Captain Roberts another, and of course there was SG-1.

"Captain Roberts, you're heading for the cloning facility. Lieutenant Weber, armor production. We'll blow the reactor- it should take out the entire base. We'll meet at the LZ- don't be late. This is a stealth mission- I don't Everyone got it? Good. Move out!"

SG-1 headed to the right and down a ramp. "Hold up," Carter said as a Jaffa patrol marched by in front of them. "Move."

They headed right down a hallway and down another ramp. Three Jaffa guarded the corridor. They would have to get by them. "We have to take them out. I've got the middle one. Teal'c, left one. Daniel, right one. On three. One, two, three!"

Carter fired three rounds from the silenced M91. They struck the Jaffa in the neck, nose, and forehead. It was brutal and bloody, yet silent and quick. They moved quickly through the corridor and down a third ramp. The base was poorly lit, even by Goa'uld standards, and had an air of foreboding to it.

There was a Kull right in front of them. In seconds, Sam had dodged around him, drove her knife into his heart and gently let him fall to the floor. He wasn't quite dead, though. The Kull dragged her down and tried to pull out the knife. It was a fatal mistake. She rolled, grabbed the knife out of the Kull's hands, and drove it through the thinner fabric of his neck. Blood poured from both the chest and neck wounds. She put the knife back in its sheath.

"That was nasty. Move up," she ordered. They were almost to the generator room.

"Damn. Someone disabled the door controls." They did not respond at all. "Teal'c, C4."

Teal'c planted two sticks of C4 on the heavy yet stylized door. They moved behind the corner and Teal'c hit the detonator.

The explosives blew a decent-sized hole in the door and they moved through quickly. Inside there was a multitude of consoles, four large reactors of some description, and four Kull Warriors.

"Kull!" Carter yelled, diving behind a console as the yellow energy bolts grazed her shields. She pulled the new, modified Kull disruptor from its holster. Daniel and Teal'c did the same.

"Time to find out how well these work," Carter said. "On my mark. One, two, three, mark!" She stood up and fired at the nearest Kull. The first shot slowed the Kull down but didn't stop him. She fired again, bringing the Kull down on the third shot. Energy bolts slammed into her shields as she shifted fire to her attacker, bringing him down as well.

All five Kull were down. The improved disruptors worked but she had drained the power cell to 28 percent. "Roberts, Weber, what's your status?" she said, starting to hack into the reactor control systems.

"Explosives planted and ready," Weber replied, "We are still undetected."

"Ready to blow the cloning facility on your order," Roberts replied, "They haven't found us yet, either."

"That's about to change. What I'm about to do is going to set off the alarms. Go loud and head for the LZ as fast as you can. I don't know how much time we'll have until the reactors blow."

The alarms began to sound as Carter rigged the reactors into a feedback look. Daniel and Teal'c planted claymores and proximity-rigged C4 in front of the entrances. "There's no stopping it now. Let's go."

They exited the same way the came in. A group of Jaffa came marching down the hallway toward them. Sam raised her M91 and opened fire into the group without stopping. Daniel did the same. He winced as a staff blast hit him in the middle of the chest, dropping his shields. They moved quickly up the ramp and headed left. They knew exactly where they were going, appearances to the contrary.

"There are more Jaffa!" Teal'c said. He tossed a grenade around the corner. It landed in the middle of a group of Jaffa, killing or maiming all of them. A dozen more approached from behind.

"They're right behind us. Move it!" Carter yelled, reloading and firing wildly behind her. The base wasn't that big. Just a little bit further to the exit. They were much faster than the Jaffa and reached the door in record time.

There was practically no corner and the door refused to open. Carter planted two sticks of C4 on the door, moved to the side with her back to the wall, and detonated it. She felt the shockwave and thermal pulse hit her left flank.

The Jaffa chasing them were Ba'al's best. They had better armour and better weapons. SG-1 didn't have much time to consider it, but their suit computers analyzed their weapons and armour. The weapons were similar to staff weapons technology-wise, but built in the shape of a rifle and designed to be more accurate. Their armour was better but enough rounds would still kill them.

Carter was the last through the door. She squeezed off one final burst from her M91 and tossed a grenade behind her. The LZ was close to the Kull facility but they would still have to cross two streets. They made it to the first one and took cover as a barrage of yellow-orange plasma bolts lanced toward them.

"Scorpion!" Carter yelled. They had no anti-tank weapons. They would have to evade it and move around it somehow. She was beginning to formulate a plan when two missiles streaked out of the sky and the Scorpion exploded.

"You guys miss me?" the pilot said over the comm, landing the A-3 right in front of SG-1. They jumped aboard and the spacecraft took off. Captain Roberts's team was also inside, including the journalist. Nobody on SG-1 noticed that she was reloading her rifle.

"Let's get out of here. I don't know how much time we have until it blows."

"Roger that, Colonel." Almost on cue, the reactors detonated, obliterating the facility in a massive explosion. The shockwave buffeted their A-3 and a mushroom cloud began to form. Everyone watched it as they flew off back to the Stargate.

* * *

_Earth_

Gilmor managed to catch up with O'Neill as he headed back to his office. "So, how are things going on Tartarus?" O'Neill asked.

"The cloning facility has been destroyed and SG-1 should be back here within the hour. Most of the planet is now controlled by the Rebel Jaffa. Barring anything drastic, we've won, sir."

"Losses?"

The "administrative assistant" took a deep breath. "Thirty-seven killed, twelve wounded. We've lost five M301 tanks, six M302 troop carriers, an A-3, and six F-2s."

There was a moment of somber silence, "Thank you," O'Neill said.

"Losses are inevitable, sir. It could have been much worse."

"I know," O'Neill replied, then changed topics, "So, is the oversight advisory visit a go or not?"

"It is, sir. Hopefully SG-1 will get here before they do."

"Aw, I'm sure they don't care anyway," O'Neill said as they reached his office.

"Sir, there's something you should know," Gilmor said as he entered, "I'm not really an administrative assistant sent by General Hammond."

"I know," O'Neill said nonchalantly, "General Hammond told me."

"I was actually sent by the oversight council-"

"To spy on me."

"I wouldn't use that wording but, yes, sir, I was sent to spy on you. I just uh, want you to know that I respect what you do here."

"Thanks."

As it worked out, SG-1 came back just minutes before the oversight council arrived. General O'Neill was a bit jealous. He had to wear a hot, uncomfortable AESF dress uniform, but SG-1 was still wearing their armour. Nevertheless, he smiled and shook hands with the members of the council, many of which he did not like at all.

* * *

Next episode will be an Atlantis one, probably two canon episodes adapted and amalgamated. I have the SG-1 arc and the common season finale planned out but the Atlantis arc, not so much. Sorry to disappoint but at this time I am planning to bring in the Ori in Season 2. It will be handled much differently than in canon, though.

Please leave some feedback, even if it is not very nice. I need to know what I did wrong so I can fix it.


	13. S1E8 Settlement

SGD 1x08 Settlement

Another Atlantis based episode, combining 38 Minutes, Suspicion and a bit of Hide and Seek. Enjoy!

* * *

_Atlantis_

Rodney McKay was ecstatic. The gene therapy Dr. Beckett had developed would let him use Ancient technology. There would be no more waiting for Sheppard or one of the other natural carriers to activate technology for him.

"I didn't expect you to be so eager to do this," Beckett remarked, "So do you have any questions about the process? You being a scientist and all."

"Uh, sorry, medicine is about as much science as voodoo. All I need to know is that it'll allow me to use Ancient technology like Major Sheppard."

"Probably. You are the first human trial."

"Why now? We needed as many gene carriers as possible, why not do it sooner?"

"Well, let's just say it's legal in the Pegasus Galaxy." Carson stuck the needle into Rodney's arm.

"Wait, wait, is it safe?"

"Experimentally, we haven't found any problems, but of course I am manipulating DNA."

"Well are there any side effects?"

"Dry mouth, headache, the irresistible urge to run on a small wheel." The doctor removed the syringe. "All done."

"Very amusing. So how long until it starts working?"

"Well, it could take some time. You can go now." He gently pushed McKay to the door.

* * *

"Seawater is desalinized and stored in tanks big enough to supply the whole city," Dr. Grodin reported to Weir as they headed to the conference room.

"Good, so freshwater won't be a problem. What about our equipment?"

"We're currently running on naquadah generators. Two of them are connected and we have the others in reserve, as well as the Asgard generators which can be connected if necessary. Both nanoconstructors are online and ready for use."

"And the self-destruct system you were talking about?"

"It is installed. Activating it requires two codes- each expedition member will be issued with one. It should detonate with the force of a twenty kiloton nuclear explosion. We could overload the generators for more destructive energy, but the self-destruct should be sufficient."

"All right. We need to designate some recreational areas and finish assigning quarters. And get these supplies moved into storage," Weir said, entering the conference room.

"So far we've managed to secure these areas," Sheppard explained, pointing to a map of the city. "Should be enough space for now. We don't have enough people to move any faster, even using vehicles crews." The vehicle crews, understandable, did not like being used as foot soldiers.

"My people can help," Teyla said.

"Thank you Teyla, but for the time being we'll find other ways the Athosians can contribute." Weir tried to be polite, but it came off condescending.

"Do you not trust us?" Teyla asked.

"It's not that. We need to train and equip your people with our weapons and tactics," Sheppard explained.

"You invited me to be a member of your team."

"I know. We value the expertise of you and your people. But that will take time," Weir replied.

"We have always lived in the shadow of the Wraith. My people have never seen a place like this. They are... afraid. Some believe the ghosts of the Ancestors remain here."

"I don't think that's the case, but we're going to need more time to explore the city. We're cautious. It's important that you don't touch anything unidentified."

"I will pass it on to my people."

* * *

"You're not flying the jumper," Sheppard insisted.

"Why not? I have the Ancient gene now. See? Look." McKay held up the (working) lifesigns detector to prove it. "And I was the one who discovered the doors."

The jumper bay had an iris-style door in the ceiling allowing puddle jumpers to exit the city. McKay had discovered them by accident while experimenting with one of the spacecraft.

Lieutenant Ford was seated behind Sheppard and McKay. They all wore full Aegis armour, just in case the craft decompressed, crashed or caught fire. "It's strange we're not pulling any gees," he remarked as they took off.

"Yeah, I kind of miss it," Sheppard agreed.

"Oh please. At this rate of acceleration, we'd be dead by now," McKay said.

"Dead?" Ford said.

"Oh yeah," Sheppard confirmed, "We'd be hit by so many gees our eyes would pop, our skin would pull away from our faces, our brains would be pushed into the back of our skulls and our internal organs would be crushed into the backs of these chairs."

The Lieutenant gulped as Sheppard paused for effect. "There's a reason all of the latest-gen spacecraft- the F-2 and the A-3 basically- have inertial dampers. Even the Aegis AC flightsuits have inertial dampers. For better or for worse, pulling gees is a thing of the past. Flight, we're going to take a low orbit of the planet."

"Roger that."

_Lantea Orbit_

"You know, we haven't named the planet yet," Ford remarked.

"Well, I'm sure the Ancients have a name for it," Sheppard replied.

"How about Atlantica?" Ford suggested.

Even McKay laughed at that, "Lantea. The planet is called Lantea."

"Atlantica? Lantea?"

"Lantea is the actual name of the planet. Straight from the Ancient database," Rodney said smugly.

"I, uh, have nothing to say, sir."

"What was that I said about not naming anything. And Rodney, don't look so smug. I'm going to check the database myself."

"Hold on. Is that land?" Rodney asked.

A display and readout in Ancient appeared on the jumper's HUD. "It's land. And it's big."

"How big?" Ford asked, leaning in between them.

"If I'm reading this correctly, about 39 million square kilometers. That's about as big as- I don't know, really. It's huge!"

* * *

_Atlantis_

Teyla, Sheppard, McKay and Weir all met in the conference room.

"I understand your people are nervous about staying in the city," Weir began.

"Yes. But it is safe from the Wraith."

"Well, you see, we've discovered this continent- a big piece of land. It's about 25 minutes by jumper and looks promising." Sheppard said, smiling.

"Yes, perhaps it would be an alternative. I will discuss it with my people." Hopefully it would provide a good middle ground between leaving and staying in Atlantis.

"No guarantees yet. We have to survey it, make sure it's safe."

A survey team was dispatched the next day. The team found the land habitable, safe, and as one member put it, "even nice." The Athosians were getting more uncomfortable. The strangeness of the city and a lingering, but unvoiced, suspicion disconcerted them. On the other hand, Atlantis was a safe haven and becoming home. Halling and some of the Athosians wished to leave, Teyla and several others wished to stay, and most were on the fence.

Sheppard still thought Teyla looked odd wearing the Aegis armour. It had taken her quite some time to get used to it as well. She was initially reluctant to wear it, but changed her mind after Sheppard demonstrated it, shooting her seven times with a stunner.

"Jumper one, you are cleared for departure. Good luck out there," Weir said.

Sheppard piloted the jumper out of the bay and into the gateroom. It was mostly automatic but still required some thought to do. It was just a recon mission, visiting the world they found the Wraith base on. He flew the jumper through the gate.

* * *

_Wraith Planet_

Gate travel is not instantaneous, but very fast and since matter is disintegrated first, feels instant. The jumper flew out the other side and deployed the drive pods.

"Blast crater's still there," Sheppard remarked. "Weird, the second base seems to be gone. I'm going to land and we can take a closer look." They had detected the second base the first time but been unable to check it out.

They landed a minute later. "Sergeants Markham and Stackhouse, stay in the jumper. Everyone else, on me. Let's move out."

The group headed toward the site of the second base, making good time and reaching it in minutes. In its place was a crater. Except for the lack of trees, there was no evidence that the base was ever there.

"It's not a blast crater, that's for sure," Sheppard remarked, "It's like it just packed up and left."

"Not a base," McKay said, "A ship. Some sort of hive-ship."

"They must have gone to cull other worlds," Teyla added. She was about to say something but was cut off.

"Wraith inbound! About a dozen coming in on either side!" Sheppard said, all military. "Ford, Teyla, on the left. McKay, you're with me on the right. Open fire!"

They engaged the Wraith before the Wraith could engage them. Sheppard took aim at superimposed images of the Wraith drones hidden by trees and fired. McKay clumsily drew his M91 and did the same. The Wraith instantly began shooting at them. Rodney grimaced as an energy bolt grazed his shields.

"More of them, lots more of them coming!" Sheppard said, examining his sensor readouts, "Back to the jumper. Markham, Stackhouse, get ready to take off!"

"Roger that!" They were already taking fire from another group of Wraith. Stackhouse fired his SCAR-H rifle at the incoming hostiles while Markham prepared the craft for takeoff. "They're all over us, sir!"

"Get back to the jumper! I'll be right behind you," Sheppard ordered. They began moving back to the jumper, Sheppard leading them on a roundabout course. He would run, drop down behind cover, take down a few of the drones, and then begin running again.

Sheppard paused as his suit's sensors picked up an unidentified lifesign. It was an alien bug of some kind trying to latch itself onto his neck. Even the relatively thin neck armour was designed to stop staff blasts, bullets, and knifes. The bug's comparatively dull claws couldn't puncture it. Sheppard pulled out his knife and skewered the creature. It was disgusting but the scientists probably wanted it, so he dashed the last hundred meters to their ship with the bug kebab in one hand.

Their puddle jumper was already hit several times by the Wraith weapons. They took off as soon as Sheppard was inside, before the rear hatch was even closed.

Sheppard could tell the jumper was damaged. It gained altitude slower than normal and seemed shaky. Markham seemed to be a capable pilot despite his nervousness. They were out of danger now and he could use the experience.

"Ewww, what is that thing?" McKay asked.

"A bug kebab. Thought you might like it." Sheppard held out the knife.

"Thanks, I guess." McKay pulled the creature off the knife with a gloved hand and put it in a plastic bag.

Markham piloted the jumper into orbit and on approach to the spacegate.

"Dial it up," Sheppard ordered. "It's pretty much automatic from here."

Stackhouse dialled Atlantis and sent the "all-clear" signal. On the other end, the shield was deactivated and a "proceed" message sent back.

Markham released the controls and let the jumper glide toward and through the gate. It got about halfway before there was a jolt and the jumper ground to a halt, halfway through the gate.

"What the hell?" Sheppard asked, surprised. The jolt would be sufficient to knock out a normal human, but their inertial dampers had taken the brunt of the impact.

"Oh, no, no no!" Rodney said, staring at the blue "puddle" visible through the divider door. "We're stuck halfway through the stargate."

A hand and forearm projected out of the event horizon. Sheppard pulled on it and a very dazed Ford came out.

"What was it like?" Sheppard asked him.

"Freaky, sir." He didn't really want to go into it.

Sheppard turned to Dr. McKay. "Okay, what's the situation?"

"The drive pods didn't retract all the way. We are physically stuck halfway through the stargate."

"So we can't go through. Can't we just wait for it to shut down? Our suits are rated for vacuum. We'll wait for a rescue jumper."

"We'll be fine, but the pilots are dematerialized. The stargate sends matter in 'chunks'. If that gate shuts down with the jumper stuck halfway through, Markham and Stackhouse are dead."

"So we have to get through the gate?" Ford asked.

"Yes."

"Well can't we just go outside and cut the drive pods off?" Sheppard suggested.

"Very funny, Major. We don't have anything to cut through those, and even if we did it would be a very bad idea."

"C4, then."

"Do I even need to go into why we shouldn't do that?"

"Okay, no explosives. I take it we can't push them back in?"

"No. Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. We'd push ourselves into space. Now if you know some way of manually retracting the mechanism-"

"Cockpit, on the left," Sheppard answered.

"The cockpit is regrettably demolecularized at the moment. Somewhere back here would be more useful. Now if you'll please excuse me, I'll be a half meter over there taking some readings. Feel free to talk amongst yourselves."

* * *

_Atlantis_

Weir was monitoring the conversation. "Get our scientists on it," she ordered. They had to find a way to get them through. They were already down to thirty-three minutes.

The scientists were arguing when Weir checked up on them. "All right, give me a status report. You've all been briefed and there's about half an hour left. Where's Doctor Zelenka?"

"Up in the jumper bay running simulations on jumper three," Dr. Kavanagh replied.

"That's good."

"If there was time it would be."

"I'm not a scientist, but what if they just stepped through the event horizon?" Weir asked, ignoring Kavanagh for the moment.

"It wouldn't work," Grodin replied, "The stargate transmits matter in discrete units. The matter stream will not rematerialize until the entire jumper is through. When it shuts down, the entire forward section and the two people in it will cease to exist."

"What about the others?" Weir asked.

"The ship will be severed instantaneously along the event horizon. Even with the divider door shut, they will be exposed to hard vacuum. Of course the Aegis armour is designed for a total vacuum environment, and they all have at least ninety minutes of air."

"So, worst case scenario, we lose Stackhouse and Markham, the rest wait for rescue in the rear half of the jumper?"

"Worst case scenario, Dr. McKay starts an overload in the engines trying to retract the pods. He's probably already screwing with it. I know I would be. It would be better if he stopped immediately. He's putting the entire team at risk and us as well. The overload could-" Kavanagh was cut off.

"You're suggesting we shouldn't try to save Markham and Stackhouse? " Weir asked, surprised.

"Right now there is nothing we can do for them. Trying to save them could-"

"Doctor, I will not be satisfied with just AR-1. Your job is to figure out how to save everyone in that jumper. I expect you to carry out that task to the best of your ability."

* * *

"Doctor Weir?" Halling said to her in the gateroom. A procession of Athosians followed him.

"I'm sorry, I don't have time for this."

"Neither do those trapped aboard the ship of the Ancestors."

"News travels fast. I'm sure you are aware that we are very short on time."

"Still, this is important. You may not know this, but among our people, there is a ritual prayer that is said when death is upon them."

"We don't know that it is."

"I am told that it is all but inevitable."

"Who told you this?"

"It is not important. Knowing the time and place of one's end is a... very rare thing among our people. It is a simple rite that will not take more than a few moments-"

"Halling, you perceive death in a certain way. I accept that- I respect that. But we do not prepare for death, we do everything we can to stave it off. I can't guarantee Teyla will make it back, but there is a good chance she will. Two of our expedition members will die if we do not fix this and they do not perceive death the way you do. I'm sorry if the rumour you heard was wrong- it has wasted my time as well. All the more reason I have to go now."

She was approached by Dr. Kavanagh in the control room. "I hope you have something to tell me."

"Yes I do," he began. "What the hell was that? I left the SGC because I was tired of the military running things and you just busted me like a private!"

"You suggested that we abandon two of our own!" Weir argued back, "We do not leave people behind."

"You sound just like the air force."

"You're the one talking 'acceptable losses'. Besides, the air force didn't have privates."

"Neither do I. You cut them off!"

"Oh, that's it, you're embarassed? You think we should abandon our own people? Think of Atlantis of a colony, and me as governor. If you want to be like this I'll find some uninhabited planet where you can be as self-important as you want."

"You can't do that!" he argued.

"Sergeant, confine him to his quarters," Weir ordered the guard who had come to see what the commotion was about.

"Yes ma'am," he said, almost literally dragging the scientist off.

* * *

_Puddle Jumper_

Zelenka had discovered the circuit pathways related to the drive pods, increasing McKay's chanced from "one in a million to one in a thousand." He had probed and patched for a good twenty minutes and succeeded in firing the drive pods for a microsecond. Now the bulkhead was breached by the event horizon and the compartment would vent to space. The escaping air could push the craft into a decaying orbit. There were only two minutes left and the drive pods were still not retracting.

"McKay," Sheppard urged, "We have two minutes left."

"Look, there are still a dozen pathways to probe! It would take twice that time to probe half of them."

"So pick one at random! There's no time to be logical."

"All right, fine! But we should seriously prepare to leave the jumper. Once the compartment decompresses we could get pushed into a rapidly decaying-"

"What?"

"I think I did it," McKay said, tapping the screen of his tablet, "The drive pods are retracted!"

"Then why are we not moving?" Teyla asked.

"I don't know, the engines must be-"

"Thirty seconds," Ford inturrupted.

"Everyone grab on to something. We're about to find out how explosive explosive decompression is." They all grabbed hold of something solid and Sheppard pulled the release lever. The hatch blew off and the air rushed out of the spacecraft. The jumper began to slowly move forward through the Stargate.

* * *

_Atlantis_

With only four seconds left, the jumper emerged from the stargate. Crowds of observers cheered and clapped as the jumper flew back into the jumper bay and landed.

Weir met them in the jumper bay. ATL-1 exited the jumper, followed by the two very dazed sergeants.

"Good job, Rodney. I'm glad all of you made it back," Weir said.

"Oh, it was nothing," he replied.

"You were panicking a minute ago!" Sheppard reminded him.

"We can discuss this in the debriefing," Weir said.

"Yes, let's do that," Sheppard said, shooting a glare at Rodney.

"Major, could I see you for a second?" Weir said after the debriefing.

"All right. This is about the mission isn't it?"

"It is. This is the-"

"Fifth time out of nine missions. But only two of them were definite traps- three if we count this one."

Weir cocked her head.

"Alright, it's probably not a coincidence."

"I think it's pretty damn obvious now," Weir said, "We've got a spy in Atlantis."

* * *

Weir, Sheppard, Bates, Ford and McKay met in the conference room.

"Should we wait for Teyla?" Ford asked.

"Teyla wasn't invited," Weir said simply.

"She's a member of my team," Sheppard responded.

"She's also an Athosian, sir," Bates said with an accusing tone in his voice.

"If we have been compromised- and it's almost certain we have- it's almost certain one of them is responsible."

"We're talking about the Athosians. They've all lost something to the Wraith. Why would they be cooperating with them?"

"If someone on this base was communicating with the Wraith, we probably would have detected it. Besides, if someone was, why hasn't Atlantis been attacked?"

"It couldn't be any of our people," Bates insisted.

"And why not? We've found enemy operatives in our midst before. Maybe someone has made a deal with the Wraith or just has a messed up head."

"If Colonel Sumner was here-"

"Colonel Sumner is dead, _Sergeant_. The Athosians are our closest friends- we can't risk losing them."

"Sir, with all due respect, we can't trust the Athosians."

"Enough!" Weir ended their argument. "I can see both sides of the argument. Your team has been attacked five times, twice on unpopulated worlds. My primary concern is the safety of this base and everyone on it. We can't just keep pointing fingers. We have to do something about this. Now, does anyone have any useful suggestions?"

"Confine all the Athosians to the south end of the base," Bates suggested.

"Are you insane?" Sheppard asked.

"I don't think we should go that far," Weir said, "But restricting some of the more sensitive areas might be a good idea."

"The Athosians aren't going to like it," Ford chimed in.

"I know. In addition, until further notice, we're suspending all gate travel."

"Couldn't we stop using the gate indefinitely?" Bates asked.

"Not an option. We need ZPMs to power this place. If the Wraith come- and they will- we need a way to defend ourselves," Sheppard explained.

"We won't be able to keep a wormhole to Earth open for long," McKay added, "The Asgard generators don't put out a lot of power compared to a ZPM. No way we can power the whole shield, but we might be able to protect the central tower," Rodney added.

"This is the only stargate in the Pegasus galaxy that can even reach Earth," Weir said, "And if it comes to it, we'll have to destroy the city to keep the Wraith from using it. We'll suspend gate travel for the time being. We have to find that spy.

"I'd like to meet with every Athosian on this base. Power generation, the gateroom, control room and everything else you see fit to secure will be secured. McKay, I want you and your team to go over the sensor logs. See if you find some unidentified signal or strange behaviour."

* * *

The Athosians were unhappy. The unvoiced, quiet suspicion became open distrust. The Athosians found themselves isolated both metaphorically and literally. Before long they began discussing plans to leave. Teyla found herself becoming more and more distanced from her people. Halling became their de facto leader, with more and more siding with him every day.

Halling met Dr. Weir with a procession of his people. "Doctor Weir?"

"My people wish to take our leave to the land on this world."

"You would?"

"We are no longer welcome here."

"That's not the case."

Halling ignored her. "And it will make us useful as long as we are cut off from the gate. We can grow food, make homes, rebuild our civilization."

"We don't even know if it's safe."

"We can determine that. For both our people."

"I don't get it. Up until now you've been demanding access to the stargate, and now you propose to cut yourself off from it?"

"We cannot leave, we cannot stay. The mainland presents us with a third option. You said yourself this is a temporary measure. You have a means of assuring passage from Atlantis to the mainland when you decide to resume use of the gate."

"And if we resume our missions through the stargate and stop encountering the Wraith, it will only prove there is a spy among the Athosians."

"And if you do not, it will only prove our innocence."

"Have you discussed this with Teyla?"

"Teyla has made her decision."

* * *

"I understand you are not coming with us," Halling said to Teyla as she entered.

"Doctor Weir has arranged for communications between Atlantis and the mainland. Should you ever need assistance-"

"Thank her for us."

"I hope- I don't want anyone to believe that-"

"Teyla. It is time."

They touched foreheads in the traditional Athosian way. "Go safely," Halling said.

"And you."

* * *

The jumpers carrying the Athosians departed the next morning. Teyla watched from the balcony as they came through the gateroom and into the jumper bay.

"I've never been separated from my people before," she said to Weir.

"It must be hard. But you know you'll see them again."

"You doubt that you will one day return to Earth?"

"I can't afford that doubt."

"You mean you cannot afford to let it show."

"You're still a leader, Teyla. You're doing this for your people, and for their future. You know that. They know that."

* * *

With the Athosians gone, gate travel resumed. A few hours later, ATL-1 found themselves with ATL-14 on an archeological expedition.

"Can't you go any faster?" Sheppard asked impatiently.

"This is real fascinating stuff, and there's a lot of it. We're probably going to have to come back."

"Like anthropologist fascinating, or actual fascinating?"

"Look, Major, the only way we can go any faster is if we find someone who can speak the language."

"Didn't you say there were natives here?" he asked Teyla.

"Yes, but they are very shy. They probably went into hiding the moment we came through the gate."

"Well, it's not that surprising, we are kinda scary. Is there any way you could coax them out?"

"It is unlikely, but I could try."

"Lieutenant, go with her."

"It would be better if I went alone."

"You will be alone. With Lieutenant Ford."

They were definitely around. The sensors in his suit could detect them.

"They're here, why won't they come out?" Ford asked.

"You are a stranger. They will not come out unless I am alone and they know who I am. They are not a dangerous people."

"All right, I'll let you go on your own, but you're not taking off that helmet. Standard offworld operating procedures- not up to me."

"I understand," Teyla said, heading off on her own.

"Wraith!" Sheppard said over the comm. They were in the forest, surrounding them. "Take cover and get ready. Let them fire first." They moved at a moderate pace back to the stargate and the ruins.

A moment later the Wraith stun bolts began flying out of the trees. A hail of gunfire came from the Atlantis teams in response. Half a dozen Wraith fell to the bullets.

"Teyla, Ford, get back here! McKay, dial the gate!" Sheppard yelled, dropping down behind the ruins and reloading. He fired a burst at a drone moving through the trees. One of the drones, injured but still alive, picked up his weapon and fired at Sheppard. The energy bolt hit him on the left shoulder and he shredded the Wraith's chest with his SCAR in response.

Lieutenant Ford and Teyla came running up at full superhuman speed. They shot at the Wraith drones as they passed them, getting hit several times but continuing on. Sheppard slammed a C-mag into his SCAR and laid down covering fire. He was the last through the gate, taking an energy bolt to the back as he dashed through.

* * *

The debriefing didn't go well. Sergeant Bates was suspicious of Teyla's actions, so McKay ended up going over the suit data recorders and sensor logs. Like he thought, Teyla wasn't responsible. McKay was about to pack up when he noticed an anomaly in the sensor logs.

"Major, I need you to see something," he said to Sheppard, then led him down to his lab.

"I was going over the sensor logs when I noticed an anomaly. A weak subspace transmission," Rodney explained.

"That's all well and good, but what does it mean?"

"Bates was right, in a way. I did some investigating, comparing it with other sensor logs, scanned artifacts, all that. The same signal was detected when you were with Teyla in the caves, in the city- with Teyla, and all six times you were attacked. It was coming from, drumroll please, Teyla's locket."

"The one I gave to her? Why the hell didn't we pick it up before?"

"Well, we didn't know what to look for, and it's not a very powerful signal. You gave it to her?"

"I found it in the cave, picked it up and gave it to her. It's my own damn fault."

"You couldn't have known. Listen, Weir needs to know about this right away."

* * *

They ended up in the conference room with Bates and Weir a few minutes later.

"It's basically a tracking device," McKay explained, "Emits a weak subspace signal. Difficult to detect, and doesn't have a lot of range. My guess is that there are relay devices on the planets to alert the nearest hive ship."

"Boy, do we owe a few people an apology," Sheppard said grimly.

"Teyla had no idea she was giving away your position," Weir said.

"She said it was a present from her father," Sheppard said, "She lost it when she was a kid."

"It was probably dormant until Major Sheppard picked it up, activated it," McKay explained. "It must have been in response to the Ancient gene. When the Wraith and the Ancients were at war, they created the transmission device to detect Ancients."

"So it wasn't Teyla, or any of the Athosians," Weir said.

"If that's the case, we can use it against them," Sheppard suggested. He outlined his plan.

* * *

"You're late," Sheppard said to Teyla as she came into the armoury.

"Sorry."

"The last planet we visited isn't accessible by ship, and the ruins force them to come on foot. It should work, and keep the Wraith on the ground," McKay suggested.

"It'll do. Now Wraith are hard to kill, and taking one down is another story," Ford began, "We've got a collection of alien and human weaponry that should do the trick."

He opened an ammo can and picked out a black cylindrical grenade. "M84 stun grenade. Flashbang. Designed to overwhelm the intended target with intense light and sound. Should daze even a Wraith."

The next weapon appeared to be an MP5. "This isn't really an MP5. It's an Intar, a Goa'uld stun weapon used in training. The main advantage over the zat is that you can shoot as many times as you want with this one. Again, we don't know how well it'll work against the Wraith."

He grabbed a dart gun. "Poison darts. I talked to Doctor Beckett and he said get the strongest stuff you can. So I did. These darts will knock a man out for the better part of a day. May or may not be effective against the Wraith."

"And last but not least, the taser. Stuns targets with an electric shock, overloading the nervous system. No idea how the Wraith will react."

"So basically, we have no idea what will and what won't work."

"I'm afraid so, sir."

* * *

They set up explosives to be detonated remotely. ATL-3, an all-military team, accompanied ATL-1. Each person was equipped with an Intar and a taser in addition to normal lethal weapons. They had one dart gun and several stun grenades.

"Looks like they went for it," Ford said. "Three drones and a male Wraith." Saying what he saw was a habit, but unnecessary. The location of the Wraith was already transmitted to all the human soldiers.

The Wraith picked up the locket in confusion. They realized it was a trap and were about to run when the explosives went off, followed by three flashbangs. Sheppard watched with his Intar raised. The faceplate on his armour polarized in a thousandth of a second, shielding him from the flash, and audio attenuators shielded him from the bang. They all opened fire on the three drones, taking them down with the Intars. The fourth Wraith made a run for it.

"Take him down, he's the one we really want!" Sheppard ordered.

A poison dart sailed toward him and hit. The Wraith continued into the forest. One of the drones was lucid enough to activate his self-destruct. The humans dived for cover. Teyla was the only one who followed the fourth Wraith.

The Five-Seven pistol was chosen because it shared 5.7mm ammo with the P90 and M91. The P90 and its 5.7mm round were originally chosen for penetrating Goa'uld armour. The bullets were small, hard, and fast. They penetrated armour well but did not do a lot of damage to organic targets, tending to pass right through.

Teyla advanced toward the Wraith in a game of chicken, firing repeatedly into it. The tough Wraith didn't even flinch from the hits, reaching Teyla quickly. An explosion rocked the ground.

The Wraith were still getting used to facing armoured soldiers faster and stronger than they were. He hit Teyla, knocking her backwards slightly. Teyla pulled out her knife and slashed the Wraith's throat. It sprayed blood momentarily, then healed. She kicked at the Wraith, hoping to bring him down. Her trinium-armoured foot smashed into the Wraith's lower leg, shattering bones. They healed quickly, and he caught Teyla off guard with a full-body slam.

The Wraith slammed his feeding hand into the hard armour over Teyla's chest. He roared in pain as the impact smashed half the bones in his hand. Teyla rolled, pulling her knife across his throat as she did so. Two Wraith stun bolts hit him in the chest, and he collapsed.

The Wraith tried to activate the self-destruct on his wrist. "Don't even think about it," Sheppard said, poking him with the back end of the Wraith weapon.

"Sorry I couldn't get here sooner," he said to Teyla.

* * *

_Atlantis_

They had found a nice Ancient-designed cell to put the Wraith in. Sheppard decided to pay him a visit. The Wraith probably wouldn't say anything, but it was worth a try.

"How's the hand?" he asked. "First time fighting an equal opponent, isn't it?"

The Wraith ignored him.

"I got all the time in the world. You, on the other hand-"

The Wraith tried to grab at Sheppard, but succeeded only in smashing his hand into the Ancient forcefield.

"The Ancients were pretty good at shields and stuff like that, weren't they?"

The Wraith snorted. "You waste your time. I will give you no information."

"I wonder what hurts more. The gunshot wound, or the hunger?" Sheppard teased. "I'd love to help out but, how did McKay put it? We can't meet your dietary requirements."

"When I'm free, you will be the first that I feed upon."

"When your free, that's the important part. Look around. It would take a miracle for you to get out of here."

"You think you've won a victory by my capture. But by bringing me here, you've only hastened your own doom. It is only a matter of time before the others of my kind come to rescue me. And when they do, there will be nowhere on this world for you to hide."

"Stay positive now," Sheppard said, leaving. "I'm going to make myself a sandwich."

The Wraith threw himself at the bars, was stopped by the shields and roared in anger as the door closed.

* * *

In terms of quality of the writing, that was probably a step back. Rehashing episodes, even heavily modified, is A LOT harder than writing ones from scratch, as much sense as that makes. Thirty-eight Minutes was a lot more dramatic in canon. The Iratus bug wouldn't be able to penetrate Sheppard's armor and they are protected from vacuum, so really the only ones they have to save are Stackhouse and Markham. Hide and Seek was omitted almost entirely but Suspicion remained mostly the same. I added the Intars because they seemed a logical choice. The zat kills with two shots and one probably wouldn't take down a Wraith- though the one=stun, two=kill, and three=disintegrate is not a hard and fast rule.

Next episode will be a significantly modified Icon and will touch on the effects of disclosure on Earth as well.


	14. S1E9 Aftershock

SGD Season 1 Episode 9 Aftershock

I know it's been a while since the last update. I've been busy and just plain lazy. But it's here now, so enjoy. This is pretty much the same as Icon. Next episode will change things up a little, and I have a new SG1 arc planned.

_Stargate Command_

For once things were somewhat calm. No SG team had run into significant Goa'uld forces in the last week and a half. Tartarus was firmly in the control of the Rebel Jaffa, and the AESF had pulled out. The DTCS satellite network was coming along nicely. The two complete C-308s had been assigned to moving them into orbit. They were small starships somewhere between a tel'tak and an al'kesh. They were a lot more practical in design and equipped with two railguns and a short-range hyperdrive. Not much to look at, but useful. More were on their way. Construction of Abydos Station would begin soon. The Prometheus was still Earth's only capital ship, but the Daedalus was nearing the fitting-out stage. The Athena would hopefully get there soon, and the Normandy was going smoothly. Others were under construction, of course, but none of that was under O'Neill's purview.

Earth's people were handling disclosure amazingly well. It was a shock, and there were still occasional protests and riots. Politicians were using support for or opposition to the AESF and the stargate to further their agendas. Anti-war activists protested some of the things the AESF did, but there weren't many. Earth had been decimated, and most of the world wanted blood. The stargate had been declassified but details of the AESF and SGC hadn't, so they still had to worry about leaks. The media was having a field day. Everything from news reports on what was going on offworld to Discovery Channel specials on space travel to juicy (and mostly fake) gossip on the personal lives of prominent AESF members.

Predictably, revealing the stargate and the Goa'uld had shaken up the religious world quite a bit. A lot of neo-pagans and those who still believed in classical mythology had their beliefs pretty much proved wrong. The Church had handled the reveal well, the Jews seemed pretty much the same, and the Muslims were as devout as always. Buddhism and some New Age beliefs had actually got a boost. And of course there was a whole breed of new cults, philosophies and belief systems that had sprung up. Some even wanted to worship the Goa'uld, and some worshipped the Ancients. O'Neill was still deciding whether it was his business or not.

They couldn't just release all the wonderful technology. Sure, they could cure cancer, solve the world's energy concerns, and build a better mousetrap, but it wouldn't happen overnight. The biggest problem was infrastructure. The power grids could not handle the amount of energy necessary to do even half the things they needed to do. New methods of transportation would be necessary to move goods and materials quickly. Production methods were different, and of course reliant on each other. Most of the new technology was difficult to produce, potentially dangerous, and expensive.

They would have to take it slow. Shipyards and production facilities geared toward the military would be built first. Infrastructure would be gradually upgraded. It would be inordinately expensive, but necessary in the long run. People were screaming for the cure for cancer (Jack couldn't blame them), but they would have to wait. Things like Tretonin were becoming available, but they were extremely expensive. It would have been morally right to give it to those the most in need, but Jack wasn't that naive. It was a capitalist world where the mighty dollar (or pound, or Yen, or Euro) was in charge. No, people would just have to wait for their personal nanoconstructor, flying car, and miracle drugs. Although if you had enough money, you could get it, as evidenced by the Saudi prince with the holodeck.

O'Neill finished his report and headed to the control room. SG-1 was headed out to explore a new planet they hadn't visited before. Just like old times, except Carter was in charge, Daniel had shorter hair, and he was The Man.

"Chevron six encoded," O'Neill heard Walter report as he entered. SG-1 was standing in the gateroom, along with a MALP, the usual guard force and several technician. O'Neill waved. Carter waved back with a black and camouflage gloved hand. He thought she was beautiful even (no, he corrected himself, especially) wearing full combat armour, but he would never, ever say that to anyone.

"Chevron seven locked!" The stargate engaged, spurting out the signature kawoosh and lighting the gateroom blue. The MALP went through first. O'Neill remarked to himself that they should develop something more futuristic and less archaic.

_Tegalus_

"...highlight of our antiquities collection, the Great Ring of Avidan," the guide explained. The tour group exited the museum building to look closely at the ring displayed outside. Two military guards stood in front of the ring. "Researchers estimate the ring to be at least several thousand years old. And while its origin remains a subject of debate, many believe it was created by ancient worshippers to honour their gods. It is thought that the peculiar symbols on the ring are the names of the gods. However no one has been able to decipher-"

The guide stopped and took a step backwards. The inside of the ring began to spin and the chevrons light up. They retreated toward the door and the guards tensed. The unstable vortex narrowly missed the group.

A few seconds later the robotic MALP probe exited the event horizon. The guards pointed their weapons at it. It didn't look like anything they had seen before. They immediately contacted their superiors, and a delegation quickly arrived. SG-1 went through about fifteen minutes after the wormhole had originally been established.

Commander Gareth had no idea what to expect and was preparing for anything. Still, he was a bit taken aback by the heavily-armoured SG-1. They had actually restrained themselves when it came to armament. Carter carried an M91 on a neck strap and a Five-seven in a leg holster, the others only carried an M91 PDW each.

"Commander Gareth," Carter greeted. The Commander and several others wore a simple, if a little old-fashioned, grey uniform. He wore a gold stripe on each shoulder and another, probably his second-in-command, wore silver stripes. They were unarmed, but there were others carrying what looked like World War Two era rifles. Not overly impressive, but better than most worlds.

"In the name of the people of the Rand Protectorate, I welcome you. You're Colonel Carter?"

She nodded. "This is Teal'c, Dr. Daniel Jackson."

"It is a pleasure to finally meet you all face to face. But please, come." He motioned them to follow. "We have many questions, as I'm sure you do as well."

"Sorry about scaring the tourists. We've made contact with a lot of planets but this is the first time we found ourselves coming out of a museum piece."

"One of our artifacts coming to life was surprising, but that pales compared to its purpose. It is almost beyond imagining."

"As is the fact that you're human," the silver-striped man commented.

"My chief aide, Jared Kane." Carter was pretty close.

"Well believe it or not, there's actually a good reason for us being human," Jackson began.

Carter cut him off. "Which we'll get to in due time."

"Colonel, I hope that once we gain each others' trust, you'll be able to shed some light on the technology that powers the great ring," Gareth said. It wasn't surprising- Sam would have asked too, if she was in his position. "It is unlike anything we have seen before."

"We call it the stargate," Carter replied, "And our people share the same hope, commander.

"Of course, in due time."

"I take it the great ring is a recurring motif in your culture," Daniel remarked, motioning at the stargate-shaped necklaces two of the Rand women wore.

"It is simply a reminder of certain traditions that predate our age of enlightenment. Most people wear them more for the sake of fashion than religious belief."

_So they had probably been ruled by the Goa'uld in the past_, Daniel thought.

Jared Kane confirmed it. "Our history tells of an age where all-powerful gods ruled this world. The great ring was supposedly the source of their power."

"Of course we know these are merely legends from our ancient past," Gareth said. "However the activation of the ring may cause a stir amongst those few who still follow the old ways."

_Stargate Command_

SG-1 had been busy talking with the people of Tegalus. Jack was glad he didn't have to do it, but still looked forward to the debriefing with SG-1.

"The Rand Protectorate and the Caledonian Federation are the two main superpowers on Tegalus," Daniel began. "They've been locked in a state of cold war for decades. Each nation has enough weapons to wipe each other off the face of the planet."

"It's depressingly familiar," Carter remarked.

"Of course our time with the Caledonian representatives was limited. Now there's actually a third element that has me a little more concerned. A group of religious fundamentalists led by a man named Soren."

"Also depressingly familiar," O'Neill said. He was offworld when the terrorists had taken down the towers. He realized how unsimilar it was and quickly added, "sort of."

"Actually, not really. These people believe that all life on the planet was created by ancient gods, and that these gods will someday return and reward them for their faith."

"And by coming through the stargate we confirmed their beliefs," Carter chimed in.

"The Rand government tried to cover up the stargate but was unable to keep the rumours from spreading. Before we made contact, these people were considered zealots who took the ancient texts too literally. The gate being activated was all they needed to prove they were right all along. There numbers will grow."

"That's terrible," O'Neill said, "And yet, not our problem."

"Actually, it is. It's because of us. If we hadn't shown up Soren's faction would still be a bunch of disorganized zealots." He paused. "Jack, we have enough people to act as peacekeepers, stop them before it becomes a problem."

"Uh uh, no way. We need those forces to field against the Goa'uld. We can't afford to tie up our forces to stop some religious zealots on some other planet!"

"We have to help them. If we don't do anything the Rand Protectorate will dissolve into civil war."

"I hate to say it but the general is right," Carter said, "The AESF is ill-suited to peacekeeping operations against a low-tech opponent- we're strong but few. Geared towards surgical strikes, not long-term deployments. It would be a waste of resources."

Daniel Jackson met up with the general after the meeting. "No way, Daniel, I'm not commiting any troops to Tegalus," he said before Daniel could open his mouth.

"I know. What about just me?"

"I'm listening."

"I can try to calm things down, help them understand it's not the end of the world. Maybe act as an intermediary. If we leave them who knows what could happen? We have to help them. You know that."

O'Neill paused and considered it for a moment. "Full armour, armed to to the teeth, regular contact no exceptions. The second things start getting a little squirrely-"

"Thank you," Daniel said, beginning to leave.

"Daniel," Jack called, pointing, "Squirrely."

He nodded, muttering "Squirrely."

_Tegalus_

"What does the blue light mean?" Daniel asked, following Kane into the bunker. The guards eyed him suspiciously. He wore Aegis IIM armour and carried both a SCAR-H rifle and an M91 PDW.

"Blue is our second highest level of military alert status," Kane explained. "There's been civil unrest in several urban centers across the country. Over a dozen municipalities have fallen into the hands of Soren's troops. We're in the process of retaking those areas as we speak."

"So civil unrest means you go to blue?"

"Under normal circumstances, no. Unfortunately, the situation has caused other problems." A thick door rotated in front of them, and they stepped in as the door rotated back around, revealing a command center. Tables with equipment on them and various consoles took up most of the room. Opposite the door was a large display with a map on it, showing the Rand Protectorate and Caledonian Federation.

"What's going on?" Daniel asked.

"We were forced to heighten our alert status to match that of the Caledonians'."

Commander Gareth was talking with Minister Treydan of the Caledonian Federation. "I promise we will share the technology with you once we fully understand it."

"You mean once you've assessed its advantages to your national security. You've refused to allow our scientists access to the great ring."

It was all too familiar to Daniel. Everyone wanted the Stargate in their country. They had managed to keep it where it was mostly because of the Asgard intervening. Everyone wanted their people in the AESF- they had given them that. Everyone wanted the technological developments- they had _mostly_ given them that. But even he recognized that the Rand Protectorate was in no position to do so.

"You've limited our access to the offworlders. We do not feel as much part of this great discovery as you do."

"And had the ring been activated on Caledonian soil you would have done no differently. Minister Treydan, I am simply asking your government for patience. Stand down your high alert and we will do the same."

"Typically you trust your people too much, Commander. Caledonia has been under strict martial law since news of the offworlders' arrival began to spread. Our domestic security remains intact."

"The citizens of this world are not children. They just need time to come to terms with this information."

Daniel Jackson doubted that. From what he could tell, the Rand Protectorate was already unstable. If it were Earth, the war would have already begun- but it wasn't Earth, and they weren't Terrans. So he kept his mouth shut.

"Soren and his followers have already seized control of a dozen of your cities. Your people are panicked and your country is on the verge of collapse. I urge you to deal with this situation in a swift and decisive manner. Should the Rand Protectorate fall into Soren's hands, we will consider it an act of war."

The situation degraded very quickly. By the next week, Daniel could hear fighting inside the capital, quickly confirmed once he entered the bunker. Two guards stopped him as soon as he came through the rotating door.

Jared Kane walked toward him. He wore a pistol belt, which did not escape Daniel's notice. "Sorry, Doctor Jackson, you really can't be in here right now."

The guards let go of him. It was futile in any case. He could break free and kill everyone in the room with ease. "Kane, what's going on? I heard something about the stargate being moved."

"Rebels have seized control of all of Rand's major cities, including sections of the capital itself. We had the stargate moved into the bunker complex for security purposes."

"What are the Caledonians doing?"

"Their missile systems are now fully deployed and primed. As a result, we have done the same. It might be best if you return to your planet now."

"Commander," a technician said, "Minister Treydan on a coded frequency."

"Put him through," the Commander ordered. He already knew what the Caledonians wanted, and knew he wouldn't be able to provide it. The Rand Protectorate was lost.

"Commander Gareth. We've been monitoring the situation in your country and we are most concerned."

"I understand, Minister, however rest assured, we are close to reclaiming vital areas of-"

"Now is not the time for rhetoric, Commander. Our reports indicate large elements of your military are on the brink of mutiny. Your civil unrest has become a civil war. Should any of your weapons systems fall into the wrong hands, no one in my country would be safe."

"That will not happen, I will promise you."

"Just as you promised our scientists full access to the stargate. Just as you promised us information about the alien device. And now you deny your country had slipped into chaos."

"One moment, Minister." Kane had motioned to the commander.

"Rebel forces just detonated a large explosive device near one of our missile deployment facilities," Kane reported. "As of this moment, we understand that facility to be compromised."

Gareth motioned to resume communication. "Minister, I must cut our conversation short."

"My intelligence advisers have informed me of a massive explosion near one of your missile facilities. Is this true?"

"We are still gathering information," Gareth was stalling, and the Minister knew it. "We will contain the situation-"

The Minister cut him off. "The time for containment is long past. We are targeting your missile sites only. If you do not wish a full-scale war, you will not retaliate."

"Treydan!" It was useless. He had already cut the connection.

"Commander, we have detected multiple launch signals from Caledonian positions," the technician reported.

An alarm began to ring and estimated trajectories appeared on the map. The room buzzed with activity. There was nothing anyone could do. They had nothing available in regards to missile defence. Thankfully, the Caledonians had done as they had said. They only targeted missile launch sites, avoiding cities wherever possible. Neither side had sea-based launch systems.

"Commander, we have lost contact with three launch sites. Missile launch, missile launch! Two missiles from each site."

"They're headed toward Caledonia, sir," Kane said. "The rebels must have captured the sites."

"And the Caledonians are going to respond." As he said it, more missiles appeared on the map. The Caledonians had launched, this time at their cities.

"I never thought I would have to do this," the Commander reflected. The bustle of activity gave way to an eerie silence. "I am authorizing a retaliatory strike on the Caledonian Federation. Plan Ecta-one-zero."

"Sir, that's a strike on their cities," Kane commented.

"I know," Gareth replied. "We have to hit them while we still can."

A moment later the bunker was rocked by an explosion.

"Rebel forces are moving in on the bunker, sir. The first Caledonian missiles will begin impacting in four minutes. Those targeted on the capital will arrive in forty-three minutes."

"And our missiles?"

"Fourteen minutes to fifty-six minutes, sir."

"This is it. It may well be the end of the world. Kane," he motioned toward Daniel, who watched the events unfold, dumbstruck.

"This is insane," was all Daniel could say.

"I can get you back to the stargate, but we have to go now," Kane said to him. The immediately headed through the rotating door. They were about halfway to the next hatch when it exploded. Jared, Daniel and the two guards too cover behind sandbags piled in the bunker.

Soren's troops began coming through the door. Daniel drew his M91 and fired around the corner of the sandbags. Kane and the guards did the same with their weapons. They took down several before Kane fell backwards, hit in the leg.

Daniel pulled him up, unloading the last six rounds of his magazine in the general direction of the rebels.

"This way," Kane said, pointing. Daniel half-carried him, helping him walk on his good leg. "Through that door."

Daniel leaned Kane against the wall as gently as he could under the circumstances. He would have to deal with Jared's wound later. He opened the door- more of a hatch, really- then pulled it closed behind them.

It was a maintenance tunnel of some kind. They could hear gunfire, explosions, and an air raid siren in the distance. It wasn't easy, but they managed to make it outside.

"Get down!" Kane shouted. Daniel came down on top of him. It hurt a lot and caused a significant amount of bruising, but probably saved his life. A chain of explosions rocked the ground. The shrapnel bounced harmlessly off Daniel's shields.

Daniel rolled off of Jared. "Can you make it to that ruined building?" he asked.

"I think so."

"On three. One, two, three." Daniel supported Kane and he hobbled to the other side, into the ruined building on his good leg.

The building was in a pretty sorry state of affairs. The occupants were dead and thankfully hidden from view. It had once had four stories- now it was down to one and a half. Dr. Jackson laid Kane down on filthy carpet. He wished he was the right kind of doctor, and pulled the first aid kit out of his tac vest.

"How bad does it hurt?" Daniel asked, cleaning his already-gloved hands with an antibacterial wipe. He cut away Jared's pant leg.

"Like hell," Kane said between gritted teeth. He screamed out in pain as Daniel splashed disinfectant on the wound. He then bandaged the wound, applying a lot of pressure. Both his gloves and the carpet were covered in blood by the time he was done.

"I wish I could do more, but at least you won't bleed to death now," Daniel said. He held out a canteen and Jared gratefully took it.

About a minute later the Rand equivalent of a truck pulled into the alley. It had six wheels, four at the back and two at the front. The engine was mounted between the two rear axles. In the front was a cab that could hold quite a few people, or a fair amount of cargo. On top was a machine gun. It was painted a colour similar to, but not quite the same as olive drab.

"Loyalists," Kane said.

"Hopefully," Daniel said, stepping outside. The men in the truck were dismounted, and pointed their guns at him.

Jared Kane limped out behind him. "It's okay, he's with me," he said before passing out from blood loss.

* * *

"How long was I out?" Jared sputtered out.

"A few hours," a female voice said. "You're lucky to be alive. You were _shot_, Jared."

"Leda?" he asked, opening his eyes. "How?"

His wife stared back at him. "You told the offworlder we lived out here. He remembered."

"Leda, I-"

"Don't want anything to happen to me? It's dangerous out there anyway. I'm probably safer with the offworlder and those loyalist men."

Jared tried to get up. It hurt like hell, and he stumbled a few steps before falling. Leda caught him. "You shouldn't try to walk."

"I know," he said, stumbling another step. "I'm stubborn."

"You are that."

"Leda, we've been over this."

"Six months! The last time we talked was six months ago!"

"I had a job to do! I was only trying to make things better for the both of us."

Tears began to well up in Leda's eyes. "The whole good of the world thing! Do you have any idea how much I missed you? I would sit by the window, usually drinking something strong, and wonder what you were doing. Did you ever think about me? About us?"

She was crying. Jared leaned against the wall and stared into her eyes. "Leda, I'm sorry. I really am. What's done is done- I want you now. I need you now."

Leda turned around abruptly, almost knocking him down. "It's just a flesh wound. You'll be able to walk on your own soon. The offworlder wants to talk to you." She left, leaving Jared alone with his thoughts.

"How are you feeling?" Daniel asked, coming into Jared's room. He was still wearing his armour.

"Leg still hurts, but it's just a flesh wound. Thanks for saving my life."

"I'm sure you would have done the same in my place," Daniel wasn't really sure if he would have. "I'm afraid I have only bad news."

"What?" Jared asked, sitting up.

"Well, Caledonia and Rand are both pretty much levelled- major cities destroyed. The Caledonians fired first and had more weapons, but yours were more accurate. Both are a lot cleaner than what we have on Earth. Soren's consolidating power in what remains of the capital. There's not a lot left- most people are swearing loyalty to Soren."

"And your friends on Earth?"

Daniel shook his head. "Cut off. Soren seems to be using some kind of radio jammer or scrambler. I can't contact Earth."

"So, for the time being, we're stuck here, with Soren's forces all around us taking control of what's left of Rand."

"I'm afraid so, yes."

They were interrupted by one of Kane's men. "Soren's forces are approaching from the east."

"Into the cellar," Kane ordered, "Daniel, help me up."

Daniel helped Jared get out of the bed and limp to the hidden cellar entrance. It was concealed by a bookcase. "Leda-"

"I know what to do. Get your men inside."

Leda pushed the bookcase back over the entrance and answered the door. Three of Soren's men entered. The carried machine guns and wore the stargate-chevron emblem of Soren's faction.

"Who lives here?" one of them asked, pushed Leda roughly to the floor.

"Just me," she answered. "My husband used to live here, but he was killed in the war."

The other two men split off to search the house and came back within a minute, walking right past the bookcase. The shook their heads, and the man let go of Leda.

"No one can hide forever," the man said before leaving. Leda waited a few minutes before moving the bookcase and opening the cellar, just to make sure the men were gone.

_Earth_

He never should have let Daniel go. General O'Neill mentally kicked himself for letting it happen. It was partially Daniel's fault, of course. They had a different definition of "squirrely". And of course he had tried to stop what was happening long past the point when it was inevitable.

He knew most of what had happened. Soren had taken over Rand- or what was left of it. Caledonia had fired first, but they were both mostly destroyed. Daniel was missing and something was jamming their communications.

That was two weeks ago. He did not know that Daniel was still alive, had escaped to the country and had successfully stayed hidden. Carter had suggested an assault on Soren's base.

"We know the stargate is still in the bunker. We can go through and take him out. The place is heavily fortified and defended, but they still don't stand a chance."

"We don't even know if Daniel's alive! And what will killing Soren prove? Someone meaner and tougher is going to step up to the plate."

"True, sir, but there will be a period of chaos we can exploit. We send up a UAV, scan for his transponder and pick him up. Daniel will probably still be close to the capital. Sir, you asked for options, so I'm giving you one. "

"Should we not attempt to contact Daniel Jackson?" Teal'c asked.

"I've been working on getting through the jammers, but it'll take some time."

"All right. If, and only if, we can't make contact, I might authorize this mission."

That was last week. Carter still hadn't got through the jammers and they hadn't been able to get anywhere with Soren. He wouldn't even let them through the gate.

_They still don't stand a chance,_ Carter had said. Those words echoed through Jack's mind as he played with a pen, ignoring the report he was supposed to write. Less than a year ago, nobody would even think about saying anything like that. Earth was the side desperately struggling for survival. Now they were well on their way to being a true spacefaring race. And ironically, Anubis made it possible.

Most of their advantage on the battlefield came from their armour. There were some nutjobs out there that said it made soldiers weaker. Before, one had to be strong, tough, and able to withstand the harshest conditions. Less than a month ago they had given a journalist an Aegis II suit and a crash course on how to fight and she was tougher, stronger, and deadlier than even a veteran soldier. O'Neill could see their point. But at the same time, he disagreed. They needed every advantage they could get. If some traditionalists thought that made them weaker, well, so be it. They could keep working out six hours a day and still get their ass kicked by a journalist. The AESF was the only military currently fielding power armour, though he heard that some spec ops outfits were trying to acquire some with varying degrees of success. It was, unfortunately, too expensive a proposition to equip every soldier in the United States Army as they had hoped. The fact that the Air Force had something vastly superior to Future Force Warrior that was already operational was pretty embarrassing to say the least. To their credit, though, they didn't have the advantage of seven years of space travel.

Carter's voice interrupted O'Neill's thoughts. "Sir, we did it. We should be able to contact Daniel now."

He tossed the report in the trash and headed for the control room.

"This is Stargate Command calling Daniel Jackson, do you read?" Carter said. It was mostly out of habit. They had achieved a positive linkup, the SGC being updated on everything from Daniel's current heart rate to two weeks worth of sensor logs.

"It's good to hear your voice, Sam," he replied.

"What's the situation, Daniel?" O'Neill asked.

"I was able to escape the bunker with Jared Kane. He was shot during the escape. A group of loyalists found us and we took shelter in Kane's home in the country. We've been hiding from patrols ever since. There's less than a dozen of us in total. Listen, Kane has a plan but we'll need your help."

"I'm listening."

"A two-pronged attack," Kane explained. "We can get into the city and even to the bunker, but it's heavily defended. While they're distracted, you can hit them from the other side. They'll never expect an attack through the ring."

"We'll need some time to set it up. How's tomorrow morning do ya?"

"It'll give us plenty of time to get there. See you soon."

* * *

Two-thirds of SG-1, as well as SG-47 and SG-114 assembled in the gateroom. They were expecting close-range combat and were equipped for such. In addition to M91 SMGs, each person carried an AA-12 automatic shotgun and flashbangs.

Amanda Somers's palms were sweaty inside her gloves. Becoming semi-permanently attached to SG-114 as a correspondent seemed like a good idea at the time. She knew what she was getting into, having been shot repeatedly and thrown off a building before. But after that, it had been mostly missions that _might_ involve combat- exploration, mostly. This time, it was a mission that _definitely_ involved combat. And the role of a war reporter had changed. She was not only given a gun but expected to use it. So far she had succeeded in being a useful member of SG-114 and not just a pain in the ass. Nervously, she checked that her gun was cocked and the safety off for the third time.

"All right, we move out in three!" Carter ordered. "I want a final manual check on your weapons and armour. We're going to run into resistance right away. You all know what to do. Walter, dial the gate."

The gateroom was designed to keep staging teams well away from the unstable vortex. It was made completely clear that _the vortex is one hundred percent lethal_ and that _your shields will not protect you. _Once the gate had opened, the teams moved through.

_Tegalus_

The gateroom was empty. It was usually guarded, but the guards had left to help defend the main entrance to the bunker. One guard heard the gate activate and broke off to investigate. He got off one round at Carter, who was the first through the gate. She pulsed the trigger on her AA-12, firing off two shells. The first tore the guard's neck to pieces, shredding blood vessels and nerves. The second completely decapitated him. The body and separated head, both peppered with shot and oozing blood, fell to the floor.

"Move out," Carter ordered after they had all come through. The sound of gunfire came down the hallway, and they moved toward the defenders. There were a dozen of them, taking cover behind pillars and stacked sandbags. Two of them headed down the side passage toward the SG teams. They had heard the shots.

"Two coming up, right side," Roberts said over the comm. The hallway opened up into the room in a way that allowed one person to be concealed on each side.

"Roger that. You have the one on the right. Quick and silent."

They came through the hallway pointing their weapons into the room. It appeared empty- all were hiding except for the two team leaders. They didn't have time to react. Carter grabbed one of the men and drew her knife quickly and sharply across his throat. A stream of blood spurted out and the man instinctively grabbed for his throat. Sam drove the knife through the back of his neck, severing the spinal cord. He would remain by some definition alive for at least another minute- very few kills were instantly lethal.

Amanda tried not to look at the two dead men lying in pools of blood as they moved out.

"I hope your friends get here soon!" Kane yelled. Two of his men had already been killed and three wounded, one severely. They were pinned down across from the entrance and running out of ammo. Any minute Soren's forces would get brave and they would be done for.

Almost on cue, a hail of gunfire erupted from the right side of the room. Protected by their shields, the SG teams advanced straight into Soren's forces, oblivious to the return fire. It was over in seconds. The bunker guards were lying on the floor, dead or incapacitated. Not a single SGC soldier had even lost shields.

"Cease fire!" Kane yelled.

"You guys okay?" Carter asked.

"Yeah, we're fine!" Daniel yelled. They were still adjusting to the fact that yelling was completely unnecessary.

They advanced together to the rotary door, most of the personnel taking up defensive positions. Carter hammered on it with an armoured fist. "Soren! We know you're in there. You are surrounded. Come out unarmed with your hands in the air."

"I doubt it will work, Colonel," Kane said. "They're religious fanatics. Soren would rather die than surrender."

"Well, if they don't come out in five minutes, we'll blow the door and move in."

Just over a minute later Soren came through, alone. He held a submachine gun by the middle in one hand. He stepped out and raised both arms in the air, pointing the gun toward the ceiling.

"Drop your weapon!" Carter yelled. He did not. "I said drop it _now_!"

Jared Kane crouched and fired a single shot. It passed straight through Soren's heart- a perfect shot. He collapsed, blood rapidly flowing from the bullet hole and forming a spreading pool below him.

Without a leader and trapped in the bunker, Soren's inner circle surrendered. The SG teams moved in and led them out, taking their guns as they did so.

"It's over," Kane said.

"I hope so," Daniel replied. "You may have created a martyr."

"I had no choice," he replied coldly. "You can return to your world now."

"Kane-"

"What happened to us was not your fault."

"I know. But we made a promise and we intend to keep it. We'll be back to help you rebuild."

Kane nodded slightly, then motioned for his men to move into the command room.

"Daniel, are you ready to go home?" Sam said gently.

"Yeah." They would be back, of course. Maybe not SG-1, but other teams would be sent, along with humanitarian aid. They had helped destroy a world and they would help rebuild it. Daniel hoped it would be the only time and not the first of many. Only time would tell.

* * *

Expect updates less frequently. I'll be putting SGD on the backburner and focusing more on projects with forseeable endings. Perhaps GateWar or my ME/Stargate crossover, Legacy.


	15. S1E10 Underground

SGD Season 1 Episode 10 Underground

I've decided to go with more original or at least heavily modified episodes. So they meet the Genii now. Childhood's End and Poisoning the Well were supposed to be here, but I've decided to handwave them instead. I'll fill in 1x12 with something else.

* * *

After two dubiously successful missions, Sheppard was hoping for results this time. On the last mission, they had found a group of humans called the Hoffans, at about a World War One technology level. With the help of the Atlantis Expedition, they developed a drug that killed any Wraith attempting to feed on an inoculated human. Unfortunately, it had a fifty percent mortality rate. The Hoffans were willing to use it anyway. Sheppard understood their position, but it would be irresponsible to distribute the drug to the galaxy, so they left disgusted.

The one before that involved an Ancient EM device that disabled Wraith ships... and their jumper. Fortunately, most of their equipment was hardened, but having only line-of-sight laser communications, virtually no sensors, and no shields made him feel like he had been transported back in time. The inhabitants of the planet killed themselves after they reached the age of 25, thinking it would prevent the Wraith from returning. When the Atlantis Expedition removed the ZPM powering the device, they did. They managed to get into a scuffle with both the Wraith and the locals, but it all worked out in the end. The ZPM was returned and the suicide pact ended.

Now ATL-1 was going to meet the Genii, a simple people Teyla knew. Sheppard noticed that Teyla accented the "simple" part quite a bit. The Genii were farmers, and the Atlantis Expedition was running low on food. They were hoping to trade medicine or other goods for something called a Tava bean.

As usual, the locals were intimidated at first. They came through wearing full armour and carrying their usual loadout of weapons. Each of them had a pistol- a Desert Eagle in Sheppard's case and standard Five-Sevens for everyone else. Sheppard and Ford carried SCAR-H rifles, Teyla and McKay carried M91s.

They met near the stargate. The locals seemed to appear out of the bush, but John knew they were there as soon as they came through the gate. One was a woman, the other a man. Both dressed simply, though somewhat more modern than the Athosians.

"They look friendly enough," Sheppard remarked. He checked to make sure that his external speakers were on and his visor transparent. They would probably be freaked out anyway, but it was better to scare them less.

"The eldest one is called Tyrus and the woman is called Sora. I have traded with him on many occasions," Teyla said. "They may be frightened by our appearance, but they know me and trust me."

"Teyla Emmagan?" Tyrus asked.

"Tyrus. It has been many days."

"Who are these people?" Tyrus sounded almost confrontational.

"They are friends. I know them and trust them," Teyla pointed them out. "Major Sheppard, Doctor McKay, and Lieutenant Ford."

It seemed to be good enough for the time being. "They have come to trade for a share of your crops," Teyla quickly continued.

"Yet you bring weapons," Sora remarked.

"It's a dangerous galaxy," Sheppard remarked nonchalantly.

"They're only for self-defense," Ford quickly explained.

"Do you dress as they do of your own accord?" Tyrus asked Teyla.

"He wants to know if you work with us or for us," Sheppard whispered. It was almost inaudible to Tyrus and Sora, but the rest of his team heard him clearly over their communications systems.

"Of course. These are my friends, Tyrus. I would not have brought them if I did not think them worthy to become yours."

"We'll take you to see Cowen," Tyrus said. He sounded like he felt in over his head.

"Follow me," Sora said, and they followed her away from the stargate. Tyrus remained behind.

"I'm bringing them in. All operations to silent," Tyrus said into a wrist-mounted communicator when he thought Teyla and her companions were out of earshot.

They were out of earshot, but the communicator used simple AM radio technology with no scrambling or encryption. It was picked up by the electronic warfare packages in the Atlantis team's armor. Sheppard visibly stiffened.

"Be on your guard," he said. "These people may not be who they say they are."

Teyla was about to say something, but decided against it. Sheppard's voice was tense and on edge. He felt something was wrong, and the last time he thought so he was right.

* * *

They were picking up background chatter but couldn't make anything out. Something was definitely up with the Genii. Launching a sensor-equipped UAV or making a pass with a jumper would shed some light, but freaking out the locals could make things worse. So they stayed their guard while trying to appear as friendly as possible.

The village was simple but well-built and decently appointed. It seemed vaguely Amish in nature, and Sheppard knew that connections to Earth cultures were not necessarily coincidental. The leader, Cowen, was dressed similarly to the others. He seemed unimpressed with their offer of medicine for food. And oddly enough, not overly disconcerted about the visitors.

"...amount of planting will require new land to be cleared. Clearing more land is slow, hard work and it will lose us a great amount of growing time between now and the next harvest season."

"Okay. What if clearing land was fast and easy?" Sheppard asked. Bringing in the sappers might just scare the crap out of the locals, but it was worth a shot.

The two Genii men laughed. "You know a simple way of uprooting the stump of a 300 year old tree?"

They wouldn't even need the sappers and heavy machinery for that. "As a matter of fact, I do."

* * *

"Cover your ears!" Sheppard said to the assembled group of people.

"Why?" Cowen asked skeptically.

"It's going to be loud. You're going to wish you did." The Genii shrugged and covered their ears anyway.

"Lieutenant," Sheppard said to Ford.

"Fire in the hole!" Lieutenant Ford said, and pressed a button on his wrist-mounted control interface. The stump simply disintegrated, blown to pieces by three blocks of C-4. Bits of tree rained down on the spectators. Cowen stared at the hole in the ground in disbelief.

"It's called C4," Ford explained.

"If you can supply us with a sufficient quantity of C4," Cowen offered, "then we can supply you with the crop you require."

"So, is this instead of the medicine?" Sheppard asked.

"In addition to the medicine," Cowen replied hastily.

"Really? That wasn't impressive enough?"

"It is you who are in need," the Genii leader reminded him.

"Well, I'll have to discuss this with my people."

"I am sure we can come to terms," Cowen said, then turned to Teyla. "Thank you for bringing these new trading partners. Please stay as our guests. There will be a harvest ceremony later."

"Harvest ceremony," Sheppard mused.

"Sounds like fun, sir," Ford said. His tone gave away a slight reluctance.

"I'll be back soon," Sheppard said. He would have to talk to Weir, and because they came on foot they had no way to remotely dial the stargate.

"I should go with the Major," McKay said, following Sheppard.

Sheppard waited until he was sure the Genii weren't watching him, then whispered over their tactical net. "Teyla, Lieutenant, keep your eyes peeled. These people may not be who they say they are- I've got a bad feeling about this."

"I don't know sir, they seem nice enough to me," Lieutenant Ford replied.

"Look, AM radio is crude by our standards, but way too advanced for these people," McKay explained. "They don't seem to have discovered gunpowder, let alone electricity. I haven't been able to make anything out, but the mere presence is disconcerting. "

"All right, I'll keep an eye out for anything unusual."

"Good," Sheppard said. "That's what I like to hear."

* * *

"Explosives? This is scientific expedition!" Weir said, calmly but with a hint of hostility in her voice.

"Technically, it's also a military one," Sheppard replied. "But I see your point."

"You want us to become arms dealers," she argued.

"Not really," Sheppard said. "The explosives are for blowing up stumps, not blowing up Wraith. Do you know how hard it is to clear a stump by hand?"

"Yes, it's a personal hobby of mine," Weir said sarcastically.

"Look, we need the food. We are on the verge of rationing. And as much as I'd like to devote every offworld mission to the pursuit of Tava beans-"

"Alright, I see your point. Tell them we agree. But in the future, I'll be doing the negotiating. Trading away explosives and medicine for food..."

"I did say I would talk to you first," Sheppard said.

"Arming the Pegasus Galaxy one civilization at a time," Weir mused. "This time it's just stump-clearing explosives for food, but-"

"I know you're opposed to Operation Spearhead, but it worked in the Milky Way. Besides, it's a pipe dream. We don't have the resources now anyway."

"Keep me posted, Major."

* * *

"This is taking way longer than it should take," McKay said. It had been an hour and they were still no closer to the village.

"Just trying to get my bearings," Sheppard replied.

"Translation, I'm lost," McKay shot back. "You know, why do they even bother putting nav systems in these suits if people like you don't use them!"

"I prefer a straight line," Sheppard dodged. He had indeed completely disregarded all the navigational cues on his HUD.

"Because everything's a shortcut..." Rodney trailed off.

"What is it?"

"Hold on. I'm picking up a strange reading." He paused, reading the data off the HUD on the inside of his helmet. "Neutron radiation. On an Amish world?"

"That's definitely worth checking out," Sheppard said. "Any idea where it's coming from?"

McKay paused for a moment, then pointed to a decrepit building. "Right there."

Inside the building were some tools, a few piles of hay, and a large triangular hatch.

"Definitely not Amish," Sheppard said, clearing hay off the top of the hatch. A thin film of grease rubbed onto his glove. "This hatch has been oiled recently. We have to check it out."

"Really?" Sheppard shot him a look. "Of course we do."

John threw the hatch open with one hand. It was quite thick and heavy. There was a ladder inside. Sheppard, of course, did not bother with it and jumped down, landing heavily with a loud thud.

"Structure is architecturally advanced," Rodney said, climbing down. "I don't think the Genii could have built this."

"Yeah, well, maybe they aren't who they say they are. Better tell Ford where we are," Sheppard said, keying his comm. "Lieutenant, come in."

"Here, sir," Ford replied. Sheppard could hear music faintly in the background.

"We've found a hatch leading to some kind of underground bunker. I've said it before but I'll remind you again- be careful."

"Understood sir."

"I really think we should get out of here," McKay said, understandably concerned.

"Relax, Rodney, there's nothing to worry about," Sheppard said, pushing a door open.

On the other side was a full-blown underground city. Blocky grey buildings filled a massive cavern. It was drab, but lit and clearly occupied.

They didn't have time to appreciate the view. "Three armed goons coming up behind us," Sheppard said, raising his shields and grabbing his rifle. "Try not to kill them."

They came into view seconds later. It was two against one, but Sheppard and McKay had the advantage. Sheppard smashed his fist into one of their heads, being careful not to hit too hard. He collapsed, and Sheppard pounced on the next man instantly, knocking him to the ground. The third one was backing away and managed to get two shots off before McKay slammed his gun into his face.

"Is this your idea of first contact Major?" McKay yelled. "Knock out the people sent to greet us?"

"Calm down, McKay," Sheppard said. "They had guns. They wanted us as prisoners."

"What makes you think that? Maybe they just carry them for self-defence."

"Or more likely they had them to shut us up. Keep your secret under ground bunker secret. Besides, my helmet cam, three oh one oh nine. They were pointing them at us."

* * *

Cowen, Sora and Tyrus had left to "deal with a dispute". The atmosphere suddenly became more tense.

"I'm getting a weird vibe all the sudden," Ford remarked. "It just doesn't feel right."

"I agree," Teyla said. "I have never seen the Genii behave this way before."

Ford stood up to leave when Sora and Tyrus returned. "No one must leave. There is a Wraith ship in the area."

If there was a Wraith ship, they would know about it. "Wraith?" he said out loud. "No Wraith," he whispered to Teyla.

"It is not safe outside," Sora said forcefully.

"We need to warn our friends," Ford said, snapping his helmet back on. Teyla did the same.

"You will bring the Wraith to us," Sora warned.

"We're going, and you can't stop us." Ford said menacingly, heading for the door. Teyla followed. Both gripped their weapons tightly.

The all too familiar sound of weapons being cocked stopped them in their tracks. "Relinquish your weapons," Tyrus ordered. Most of the Genii had various firearms drawn and pointed at them.

"I don't think so," Ford replied. He pointed his SCAR at Tyrus. "Sir, we're surrounded by Genii with guns, what do we do?" he asked over the comm.

* * *

In the underground bunker, Sheppard and McKay were in a similar situation. Seven armed Genii surrounded them. Both sides pointed guns at each other. They could fight their way out, but it would be ugly. And ruin any chance of acquiring Tava beans.

"Put down your weapons and you will not be harmed," a familiar voice said. Cowen stepped over one of the unconcious men toward them. He wore a green uniform like the others.

"I was about to say the same thing," Sheppard said, aiming his rifle toward Cowen.

"Sir, we're surrounded by Genii with guns, what do we do?" Ford's voice came clearly over the comm.

"Yeah, us too," Sheppard replied, still pointing his weapon at Cowen. "Sit tight and stay calm. If worse comes to worst we can fight our way out, but try to avoid it if possible."

"You are surrounded and outgunned," Cowen said. "What could you hope to accomplish?"

"Quite a bit, actually," Sheppard replied smugly. There were advantages to having advanced body armour. "I could kill everyone in this room, including you, then blow your underground bunker to pieces."

"Is it really a good idea to antagonize him?" Rodney hissed.

Cowen laughed. "I will give you another chance. Put down your weapons. We have the advantage."

Sheppard lowered his gun a tiny bit. "You first. Despite what you may think, we have the advantage. But you haven't shot us yet, so I'm thinking you want something from us."

"Perhaps. If you do not cooperate, however, we will be forced to kill you."

Sheppard almost said, "I'd like to see you try," but lowered his weapon instead. "All right. We'll talk. But I'm keeping my gun."

The Genii leader nodded to his men, and they lowered their weapons. "Come with me."

"Lieutenant Ford, stand down and rendezvous at this location," Sheppard ordered, the location of the hatch popping up on his HUD.

"Understood sir," he said, lowering his weapon. Teyla and surprisingly the Genii did the same.

"Follow," Tyrus grumbled after a brief conversation on his wrist radio. "I will take you to the bunker."

* * *

They met in a decent sized but very grey room. A metal table sat in the centre and what Sheppard assumed was the emblem of the Genii hung on one wall. The four visitors sat at the table. Sora and Tyrus, now wearing similar uniforms, stood in the room, in addition to two guards. More were waiting outside. They could easily overpower the Genii guards and escape.

"You missed one hell of a harvest ceremony, sir," Ford remarked.

"And you missed one hell of a strange discovery," Sheppard said back. "So, uh, Teyla?"

"I am as surprised as you are by all this, Major."

"Teyla and our people know us only as simple farmers," Cowen said. "Secrecy is our only defense against the Wraith."

"One day, all that will change," he added after a pause.

"You're talking about an atomic bomb," Rodney said.

"Now it is you who surprise me. I take it you have encountered weapons of this type before?"

"Encountered? We have lots of weapons, atomic and-"

"Rodney," Sheppard warned.

"Right, sorry. I'm assuming you want our C4 to solve a supercriticality problem."

"Will it?" Cowen asked.

"It might," McKay replied cautiously. "It depends on your design. I mean, there are a host of other considerations."

"You know how to make an a-bomb?" Sheppard asked incredulously.

"Most of my high school chess club could design one. I built one for a grade six science fair-"

"They let you do that in Canada?"

"It was a non-functional model! Though it would have worked in theory. I was questioned by the CIA for six hours afterwards. Anyway, the biggest challenge is in having a sufficient quantity and quality of fissionable material."

"Which we have," Cowen interjected. "The Genii were once a great confederation of planets. Millenia ago, the Wraith brought us to the brink of destruction. The remnants of our people took shelter in these bunkers, originally built for wars long forgotten."

"The whole farmer thing is just a front," Sheppard concluded.

"More than that. We have many mouths to feed below." Cowen stood up and motioned to the door. "Come. There is something I want to show you."

"Down below, our military trains while our scientists create weapons for them," Cowen explained as he led them through the bunker.

"You do realize that long-term exposure to these levels of radiation is extremely dangerous," McKay half-asked.

"Our scientists tell me otherwise," the Genii leader replied.

"Well, they're wrong," Rodney said nervously.

"Are we in danger now?" Sheppard asked.

"No, our suits will protect us, and I don't plan on staying long enough to rack up significant exposure anyway. It would take days or weeks down here to get a significant dose. And I assume there are people that spend days of weeks down here?"

"There are people that spend their entire lives in these bunkers," Cowen confirmed.

"Their entire short lives," McKay said bitterly.

* * *

"Well," the Canadian scientist said, examining the Genii lab. It was decently appointed, if a bit archaic. "You're on the right track, we're about sixty years ahead of you. But this shielding is woefully inadequate. At least you seem to do a decent job of decontamination, but the direct exposure... let's just say I'm glad I'm wearing full armour right now."

He walked over to Cowen. "Uranium. How much more do you have?"

"Much more," he replied.

"Yeah, well, it's nowhere near weapons grade."

"We have had problems purifying the material."

Sheppard stepped in between them. "Before we go any further, I want to know one thing."

"What is that, Major?" Cowen asked.

"Are we allies, or are we prisoners?"

Cowen managed a thin smile and extended his hand. Sheppard took it, and tried to imitate the alien handshake and not snap Cowen's wrist.

* * *

"I hope by sharing this meal we can make up for past offences," Cowen said to the assembled guests at the table. Sheppard couldn't tell if it was lunch or dinner, or if the Genii even had a similar idea of meals. "With your help, before the next culling, we plan to vaporize the Wraith as they sleep."

The Atlantis team suddenly felt very awkward. "Uh, that might be a bit of a problem," Sheppard said.

Cowen's face fall. "In what way?"

"What exactly is your plan?" Sheppard asked.

"We plan to take advantage of their overconfidence. The Wraith hibernate aboard their great ships, sometimes for centuries at a time. Of course a few stay awake, but they are small in number."

"Small enough to be overpowered," Tyrus added.

"We intend to sneak aboard their ships with our new weapons," Sora finished.

"That may no longer be possible," Teyla began. "You see-"

"We woke up the Wraith," Sheppard said bluntly. "Blew up one of their ships in the process."

"You did what?" Cowen asked, both outraged and amazed.

"I and several of my people had been captured," Teyla explained. "Major Sheppard and several of his people mounted a rescue mission. I would not be alive today if it was not for their intervention. As a result of that rescue-"

"You awakened the others," Tyrus said.

"They will all awaken!" Sora added.

"The next culling was supposed to be decades away," Tyrus explained angrily. "We were relying on that window of opportunity- our first weapon was to be tested five years from now."

"The Wraith aren't in any hurry," Sheppard said calmly. "With our help, you could do it in one."

"Do we have that much time, Sheppard?" Cowen asked, now in a state of barely controlled rage.

"Maybe."

The Genii leader threw down his cutlery and stormed out of the room. Sheppard followed him.

"Cowen!" he called.

"We have to shut down the reactors, the Wraith could detect the radiation. We'll survive this culling and somehow plan for the next," Cowen said, continuing to walk at a brisk pace.

"You're forgetting something-"

"We can hide from-"

"We're both on the same side!" Sheppard yelled.

Cowen stopped to face him. "Hah! Once we have extracted all information of value you will be left on the surface. You will be the first the Wraith feed upon, I promise you."

"Let's not get into threats," Sheppard warned. "I've gone up against Wraith ships and won. We have weapons far beyond anything you've ever seen. I'm talking guns that will take down Wraith in one shot, armour that can take multiple hits from their weaponry, even ships that can go head-to-head with the Wraith.

"Don't believe me? Shoot me."

"Surely you can't be serious?"

"I'm serious. Shoot me!"

Cowen drew his pistol and fired one bullet into Sheppard's leg, making sure it wouldn't hit anything vital. To his surprise (and Sheppard's smug satisfaction), a bright energy barrier flashed into existence and the lead bullet flattened against it, clattering to the floor.

"Now tell me, do you really want to turn down that kind of help?"

* * *

"Many generations ago, during a culling, the Genii were able to shoot down a Wraith dart," Cowen explained as he led them into another lab. He seemed to have regained his composure. Sheppard's demonstration had convinced the Genii to reluctantly go along with the mission. "Although many people were lost that day, the ability to resist in even a small way gave the Genii people hope."

Tyrus removed a small metal device from a wooden box. "This data storage device was recovered from that Wraith dart. It contains information about the hive-ship the dart came from."

"Tyrus and his daughter were able to access that information," Cowen added as Tyrus connected the device to what looked like a crude computer terminal.

The terminal booted up and displayed a noisy monochrome image on the screen. Part of it showed a star map. "We believe this is where the Wraith ship still sleeps," Tyrus said, pointing to a location on the screen. It changed to another screen, showing a wireframe of a hive-ship.

"With this interface device, we believe we can access this Wraith ship's data core." The image changed again to a diagram of the surrounding terrain.

"Well how does getting access to a Wraith ship's computer help you?" McKay asked.

"I believe we can learn the location of all the Wraith's ships."

"So you know where to deliver your new bombs," Sheppard said.

"Makes sense," Ford agreed.

"Assuming, of course, that the Wraith ship is still there," Sheppard mentioned cautiously.

"If the Wraith are in no hurry to rally their forces as you claim, they will be," Tyrus responded.

"This ship is located nowhere near the stargate," Sheppard said. "Approaching it by foot without being detected isn't possible."

Which wasn't strictly true, but they had already revealed enough of their capabilities to the Genii.

"That is where your ship comes in, Major Sheppard," Cowen replied.

"Always wondered where my ship would come in."

* * *

"No." Weir said, stating it forcefully but matter-of-factly. "How's that for an answer."

"It's pithy, I'll give you that."

"I'm sure you already agreed to this."

"Only because we'll get something out of it. We gain a potential ally and possibly some new intel on the Wraith. We'll be able to do some damage, strike back at the Wraith."

"We do need allies, ma'am," Ford added.

"Allies? You just said these people were about to string you up, how can you trust them?"

"I don't trust them as far as I can throw them," Sheppard said. "They have something we need, and we have something they need."

"Personally, I stop short of atomic weapons. You do realize you were sent out for food?"

"I think we can still get it. This strike is worth the risk. If you want, we can help Teyla and McKay escape and do it ourselves, but then we lose a potential ally."

"You mentioned they also wanted our weapons for the strike?" Weir said, changing the topic.

"We can spare a few SCARs and they'll only be useful as long as they have our ammo."

"Okay, bottom line. Do you think you can pull this off?"

"We'll have to watch our backs," Sheppard said slowly and seriously. "But I wouldn't put my team at risk if I didn't think so."

"Okay, go. And then maybe we'll talk about making nuclear bombs and handing guns out to every farmer in the Pegasus galaxy"

* * *

"We've got to get in and out as fast as possible," Sheppard stated as they geared up. The Genii did seem to like the SCAR-H rifles. And it had only taken half an hour to explain how the radios worked.

"I've been studying these plans all my life," Cowen said.

"Good," Sheppard replied. "Then we'll follow your lead. Go in, download, and get out."

"I should be going with you," Sora said.

"It is best if you stayed to carry on if we do not come back," Cowen replied. There was a pretty good chance of that happening, even with the Tau'ri equipment. Tyrus smiled at her one last time before they left.

"We will need the C4 you promised us before we proceed, Major," Cowen said as they left.

"Well, we'll need the proper intel first. No sense building a bunch of nukes if you can't put 'em to use."

"Those are your terms?"

"I'm sure you understand."

"I do. It seems we have no choice but to trust each other."

* * *

The jumper glided through the stargate and cloaked once it cleared the event horizon. It was dark and stormy. Cowen stood up front, behind Sheppard and McKay. The other Genii and ATL-17, led by Lieutenant Vega, were in the back.

"How many of these ships do you have?" Cowen asked.

"Just the one," Sheppard replied. It was a lie, of course. Cowen probably knew he was lying. It didn't really matter, they would find out eventually anyway.

The familiar shape of a Wraith hive-ship, half-buried in the ground, came into view. "Have they awoken?" Cowen asked.

"Don't see any activity. Alright, through the front door," Sheppard said, piloting the small spacecraft into the hive's dart bay. There was a slight thud as he brought the jumper down.

"Ford, take half of Vega's team and hold the fort," Sheppard ordered, stepping out of the jumper instantly in assault mode. "Everyone else, on me. Standard formation. Cowen, lead the way." There was a chorus of quiet "Yes, sir"s and they left the cavernous dart bay, heading into the tunnel-like interior of the ship.

They moved slowly and silently into the eerie passages of the Wraith vessel. The Atlantis teams had the benefit of active sound suppression. The Genii did not, so they were moving slower than Sheppard would have liked. The Genii had been provided with non-silenced weapons, something he mentally kicked himself for. The silencer added an extra foot to the length of his rifle and the subsonic ammunition was considerably less powerful, but the ability to take down a target silently was worth the tradeoff. Most of the other AESF people carried M91S silenced SMGs.

"Hold up," Sheppard ordered. They were in a small chamber, in the typical Wraith organic style. Not typical were bodies, covered in some kind of white cloth or webbing.

"Oh god," Rodney breathed, kneeling to have a closer look at one of the bodies.

"These people were cocooned for a later feeding," Teyla explained. "Some are still alive."

"We don't have time," Cowen pressed.

Sheppard glared at him. "Teyla, take care of this. Sergeant, stay with her. Everyone else on me."

"I'll stay with them," Tyrus said. Sheppard didn't object. "Go, I'll meet you back at the ship."

* * *

"This is it," Cowen said, stopping them in front of a large door. "But the ships plans I memorized did not include details on how to open this door."

"Well, we can't blow the door. It would attract a lot of unwanted attention. McKay?" Sheppard nodded at the scientist.

"This will only take a moment," McKay said, cutting a hole in the wall. He connected his PDA to the organic wiring in the wall and began hacking into the control interface. Seconds later, the door slid open.

"Good job. McKay, Cowen, go in and start the download. Everyone else, defensive positions."

* * *

An arm burst through the cocooning, startling Teyla and Tyrus. "Please, help me!" a voice rasped.

"We're going to get you out," Teyla assured the person, reaching for her knife.

Tyrus grabbed her and tried to pull her away.

"What are you doing?" she hissed at the Genii man as the cocooned person writhed and moaned.

"You cannot save them, the Wraith must not know we were ever here!" he hissed.

Teyla pushed him to the side. "I said no!" Tyrus tried forcing her away again, completely failing to do so. As Teyla began to cut the person free, he brought up his rifle and fired three shots into him.

An alarm began to sound, and three Wraith drones stormed in, hitting Tyrus with their stunners. Teyla and Sergeant Tyler took cover and opened fire with their submachine guns. The silencer on the M91 was incredibly effective, the sound of the action cycling was louder than the report. Before they realized what was happening, the Wraith were lying in pools of their own blood, dead.

"Major Sheppard, we have been detected," Teyla said over the radio as she hefted Tyrus's limp form over her shoulder. "Tyrus has been stunned."

* * *

"Roger that!" Sheppard yelled, firing another burst and watching a Wraith fall. There were a lot of them already, storming his position. He thumbed the magazine catch, letting the empty magazine fall and slamming a new one in. "McKay, I need that download done yesterday!"

"Almost... done!" he yelled back, unplugging the Wraith device.

"Move, move! We've got to get out of here!" Sheppard ordered, wincing as a stunner blast impacted his shields.

* * *

"Hold this position!" Ford ordered, shouldering the M240 GPMG. The Wraith were trying to storm the jumper. Stunner blasts hit all around and on the defenders. The lieutenant took aim at a knot of Wraith and held down the trigger, drawing a line of bullets across the assault force.

The Wraith were being cut down en masse, but they just kept coming. Sheppard and his team were approaching from the other side, slowed down by the unconcious Tyrus and the slow-moving Cowen.

"We can't keep this up much longer, sir!" Ford yelled into the comm, reloading the belt-fed machine gun. He slammed the cover down and yanked back the charging handle.

"Almost there!" Sheppard replied. There was gunfire in the background. They were in the dart bay now, on the other side. The Wraith forces were right behind them, and they were being surrounded. Bullets flew in one direction, Wraith energy bolts flew in the other.

"Covering fire!" Ford ordered. They fired at the Wraith pursuing Sheppard's group as they dashed toward the jumper. The dart bay was practically flooded with Wraith and they just kept coming. Ford concentrated on suppressing the dozens of Wraith heading in their direction as they neared the jumper.

"In the jumper, move!" Sheppard ordered, immediately heading to the front and powering it up. Teyla set Tyrus down and the rest piled in. The door began closing when Sheppard took off. "Cloak's gone," he stated. The spacecraft was being peppered with the Wraith's energy weapons.

The drive pods popped out and a half dozen drones streaked out as Sheppard headed toward the exit of the dart bay. Each impacted a parked dart and exploded and secondary explosions consumed the bay as the jumper escaped. "Let's finish this," he snarled, firing off more drones with his mind while flying over the Wraith vessel. They ripped through the slumbering vessel, through the inactive defences, smashing the hyperdrive and sublight engines to pieces. The hive-ship was simply too large to destroy, but it wouldn't be able to fly for quite some time.

* * *

Sheppard had expected it. Upon their return to the Genii homeworld, they were greeted by a mass of armed Genii. There were dozens of them, all pointing their guns at ATL-1 and ATL-17

"Put down your weapons," Cowen ordered. "We really do have the advantage this time."

"That was your intention all along, wasn't it," Sheppard said, training his gun on Cowen. "You didn't care about alliances."

"You jeopardized the mission. It was a mistake to try and save anyone." He palmed the Wraith storage module. "We will keep this intelligence. And your spaceship, and any quantities of C4 you may have."

"You intended all along to use us," Teyla said. "Then why spare our lives?"

"Your efforts were helpful, and for that we will not kill you."

"Gee, thanks," McKay said dryly.

"You cannot escape this time," Cowen warned, wisely stepping out of Sheppard's field of fire. "There are dozens of us, better armed than before. Your technology will not save you."

"No, but our friends will," Sheppard said, smiling. "All units execute."

Trees crashed to the ground as two M301 main battle tanks and two M302 IFVs rolled out of the forest. Four soldiers dismounted from each, all of them carrying battle rifles and wearing full armour. Three jumpers flew overhead, dropping a dozen troops in the middle of the Genii position. In seconds, the Genii went from having the advantage to being outnumbered, outgunned, and outmanoeuvred.

"You didn't think we only had one ship, did you?" Dr. Weir said, hopping out of the IFV. She wore the same armour as the soldiers, but carried only a pistol.

"What are you doing here?" Sheppard asked quietly.

"Taking a more direct role in negotiations," she replied, then addressed Cowen. "The intelligence, please."

Cowen grudgingly handed it over.

"Thank you," she said, taking it. "Now, we are prepared to honour the original agreement. C4 explosives and medicine for the agreed-upon quantity of food.

"Take it or leave it. We can become allies or enemies. It goes without saying that attempting to double-cross us again would be a very bad idea."

"It appears we have no choice," Cowen grumbled. "We'll do it."

"Good," Weir said, extending a hand. Cowen grudgingly took it, and nearly got his wrist broken by the odd form of handshake. "I look forward to a friendly relationship between our peoples."

Cowen didn't reply. He gave a curt order and the Genii moved away from the AESF forces.

"Battleship diplomacy?" Sheppard asked as he boarded the jumper.

"Seemed like the best bet," Weir replied. "Not the sort of thing I'm used to, but it did work."

Sheppard smiled. "Think we scared them enough to make them deliver?"

"Maybe, maybe not. I'm sure there are other worlds where we can get Tava beans."

* * *

Please leave a review! Anyway, I'm throwing around some ideas for another few episodes. I'm going to try to avoid straight rehashes in the future.


	16. S1E11 Sacrifices

SGD 1x11 Sacrifices

This chapter was pretty slow to write. I'm losing enthusiasm for GateWar, so I decided to change it up a bit and do another SGD episode. Music? Anything from Modern Warfare 1 or 2. I like "Extraction Point" myself.

* * *

_Stargate Command_

O'Neill watched as the procession came through the gateroom. The Hak'tyl had been compromised, and he had allowed them to stay until a suitable new location could be found. They were dressed in the typical primitive leather and cloth and had with them several horses. There had been some resistance to accepting refugees, but it was decided that having allies would be better in the long run.

They filed through the large gateroom into one of the vehicle bays, where a temporary tent city was being set up. They were moving quickly, and some of the vehicles were still being moved out. One of them rode on horseback, to the amusement of an M301 crew. Someone made a joking comment about "armoured cav" and received a glare from the rider in response.

Ishta, leader of the all-female Hak'tyl resistance, wanted the uprising to happen as soon as possible. Moloc was still killing his female Jaffa. Teal'c was against that course of action. He insisted the only hope for the rebel Jaffa was to move all at once. Jack was inclined to agree.

That wasn't why Teal'c was angry, though. Rya'c was marrying Kar'yn, one of the young Hak'tyl. Teal'c thought that he wasn't ready to make that decision.

"Look, T, I'm not gonna tell you how to raise your kid," O'Neill had said to him over a game of table tennis, "but I've always found that sticking your fingers in your ears and humming loudly solves a whole slew of problems. "

Teal'c had hit the ball extra hard at him after that comment.

* * *

Bra'tac, Ishta, O'Neill and SG-1 met in the main conference room several hours later, the Hak'tyl had settled in somewhat. They had found a planet but were not ready to relocate, and talk quickly turned to the Jaffa rebellion.

"So, what's the state of the union?" O'Neill asked.

"Moloc continues to kill our sisters," Ishta said. "Our rebellion grows strong. We must act as soon as possible."

"That is a foolish course of action," Teal'c argued. "The Jaffa must rise up all at once. Only then will we have a chance of overthrowing the Goa'uld."

"Teal'c is right. You move now, you'll take a lot of casualties," Carter said. "You might defeat Moloc, you might not. Either way, Ba'al will move right in."

"We were unable to hold Tartarus," Bra'tac added. "That is one planet. Moloc's territory is larger than you think, and the Hak'tyl are fewer in number."

"The time is now!" Ishta insisted. "We can succeed, everything is in place."

"You still don't get it, do you?" O'Neill elaborated. "Just because you can take it doesn't mean you can hold it. It killed us in Vietnam, it's killing us in Afghanistan and Iraq. Ba'al is going to mozy right on in and crush your weakened forces, just like that."

"What are you suggesting?" Ishta demanded.

"Take Moloc's lovely Ha'tak and blast his planets from orbit."

"That is madness!" Ishta said, stunned.

"Actually, it isn't," Carter explained. "It's called scorched earth. The Russians that tactic in World War Two and the Napoleonic Wars- they won both times. You could take every willing Jaffa and resettle somewhere safer."

"Still, I think it would be best if you were to calm down and-" O'Neill was cut off by Walter's familiar voice.

"Unscheduled offworld activation!"

"-wait," O'Neill finished, following the group to the control room.

"No IDC, sir," Walter reported. "But we are receiving a message. Text only."

The message was in Goa'uld. "It's from one of my contacts among Moloc's Jaffa," Ishta said, reading the text. "He's requesting a summit."

"Why?" O'Neill asked.

"Our forces that are hiding among Moloc's Jaffa have become large," Ishta explained. "But there are many who are still loyal to him. We risk being exposed. We must send the coordinates of the new world to those who can attend."

"Very well," Teal'c replied. "I will accompany you to this event."

"You have no say in our matters," Ishta said.

"No, but it would probably be a good idea to listen to him," O'Neill said. "He's good with the whole advice thing."

"Unity among our kind is key to victory," Bra'tac agreed.

"Fine," Ishta grudgingly agreed. "You may attend, but you will abide by my rule."

"Do what she says," O'Neill translated unnecessarily.

* * *

_Hak'tyl II_

Hak'tyl II was to be the second refuge for the Hak'tyl resistance. It was a typical habitable world, with about the same gravity, atmospheric composition and pressure as Earth. It had a single moon, though smaller than Earth's, with slightly shorter days and somewhat longer years. All in all, it was an unremarkable planet on the edge of Moloc's territory.

They gathered in an olive drab tent provided by the Tau'ri. It had been set up only an hour earlier, and the interior was spartan. There were no chairs, so they all stood.

"The ranks of rebel Jaffa are strong enough to win," a Jaffa named Aron said. "The time to strike is now."

"Aron is right," another agreed. "If we wait too long, our number will grow too large not to be discovered."

"We cannot afford to lose everything," Ishta said. "Aron is right, we must strike now!"

"Jaffa," Teal'c said, scarily calm. "I know your hearts are prepared for battle. You have prepared well for the uprising against Moloc, but only when all Jaffa rise up as one can the Goa'uld be defeated. And only then will our brothers and sisters truly be free."

"This is the council you have come to offer?" Ishta spat. "This is-"

There was a slight rustling, the sound of a staff weapon being charged, and then plasma bolts began ripping through the tent.

"Down!" Teal'c yelled, pushing Ishta to the ground with him. Staff bolts flew above them, impacting furniture and Jaffa alike. The torrent of fire ripped any potential resistance to pieces before they had a chance to respond.

"Go," Teal'c said. He, Ishta and Aron were the only three left in the tent. They sneaked out the back as the tent collapsed and burned behind them, shredded completely by the staff blasts.

* * *

The stargate was not far away. They kept close to the ground and crawled up to a ridge overlooking the area. Guarding the gate were several dozen of Moloc's Jaffa. Moloc himself was among them. They noticed another contingent of Jaffa marching off, the unmistakable shape of a Scorpion among them.

"The gate is heavily guarded," Teal'c noted as Moloc left with another group of Jaffa, presumably his personal guard. "And Moloc is among them."

"We must return to the camp," Ishta said. "If anyone else survived, they will be tortured."

"It is too late," Teal'c replied, but did not have a chance to elaborate. The stargate activated, and the Jaffa forces immediately pointed their weapons at the event horizon.

"Teal'c, you there?" General O'Neill's voice chirped over his radio.

"Proceed, O'Neill," Teal'c said into the microphone.

"You know how I get when you don't call," O'Neill said, then turned serious. "What's the situation?"

"The address of the planet must have fallen into the wrong hands," Teal'c explained. "Moloc's Jaffa have sabotaged the summit and are occupying the planet. Moloc is among them. I was able to escape with Ishta and another rebel Jaffa named Aron. We are cut off from the gate."

"Teal'c," Ishta whispered. He ignored her.

"Opposition?" O'Neill asked.

"We have seen in excess of one hundred Jaffa, including a dozen of Moloc's elite guard and a Scorpion," Teal'c explained. "It would not be unreasonable to assume Moloc has more forces arriving soon or already on this world."

"Teal'c," Ishta urged, a little louder. "I left my tretonin in the tent."

"I have enough for both of us," Teal'c assured her, checking his pocket. He pulled out a tray of tretonin vials, or tried to. All he had was a tiny bit of sticky liquid and broken glass. "It appears that the vials were broken during our escape."

"Don't worry about the tretonin," O'Neill said. "We'll check in every hour on the hour, sit tight and don't get caught. We'll figure something out. Out."

The stargate shut down, leaving them once again cut off, behind enemy lines with no tretonin and only a zat, a single staff weapon, and a Five-Seven pistol for weapons.

"We must move," Aron urged. "A search patrol approaches."

"Indeed," Teal'c agreed, and the disappeared into the forest.

* * *

_Stargate Command_

The Hak'tyl resistance was loosely organized, and it was hastily determined that Ka'lel was the closest thing to a second in command they had. She gathered with O'Neill, SG-1 and Bra'tac in the conference room.

"We will not abandon Ishta," Ka'lel said, tense.

"And we're not going to abandon Teal'c," O'Neill said. "First off, tactical assessment. Carter?"

"A small, poorly armed group behind enemy lines that hasn't been detected yet," Sam summarized. "Moloc's Jaffa are doing a routine search for survivors but they don't know that they specifically are there. That doesn't mean they aren't in a bad position, sir. Ishta is unarmoured and equipped with only a zat, Teal'c is again unarmoured and carrying a Five-Seven with four extra magazines. Most likely Aron is equipped with a staff weapon and Jaffa armour.

"They have food and water, and the climate of the planet is not bad. However, without tretonin, Ishta and Teal'c will be gradually weaken until they are completely useless. That will take between twenty-four and forty-eight hours. They could be useful as an intelligence source but are incapable of any offensive operation. The longer we wait, the more likely they are to be captured. You know what they're up against, sir."

"Damn," O'Neill muttered. "Our first priority is to set up an aerial supply drop. We need to provide them with tretonin and some weapons if we can fit them in the UAV."

"And after that?" Ka'lel asked.

"A small and fast strike." O'Neill asked. "The first priority is to rescue Teal'c and Ishta... and I suppose this Aron guy too."

"And we may be able to kill Moloc as well," Ka'lel added.

"That's priority number two," O'Neill agreed. "Number three is to subvert or neutralize the remaining Jaffa forces. Hak'tyl Two is pretty much a worthless rock- no offence- so scorched earth is hardly necessary."

"The gate is heavily guarded, but with one vehicle Moloc's forces will not be able to move far," Bra'tac said.

"Infantry assault?" Carter suggested.

"Infantry assault," O'Neill agreed. "Small force, we go in fast and hard. Take out the defences around the gate, extract Teal'c and Ishta, and whack Moloc."

* * *

_Hak'tyl II_

"Jaffa, kree!" the lead Jaffa shouted as the stargate activated.

A sleek grey craft flew out of the stargate. It was a new MQ-10 unmanned drone, designed specifically for AESF use. Sharp delta wings with upturned wingtips, a v-tail and blended fuselage contributed to its sci-fi look. Though it was equipped with superior computer and sensor technology, the MQ-10 relied on traditional jet propulsion and was incapable of vertical landings. It could, however, dial a stargate and return, as well as operate under completely autonomous control. Larger than the previous RQ-2A Pioneer-SG, it could carry a small payload, such as a bomb or in this case, supply drop.

The MQ-10, under remote control, flew past the Jaffa before they could get any shots off. They completely failed to get even close to hitting the small, fast-moving craft. It scanned the surrounding area, generating a terrain map in real-time and cataloguing enemy forces. A small package dropped out of the craft and descended into a clearing, a timer popping the parachute out before it hit the ground.

The drone was making a hard burn for the stargate when the threat detection equipment detected the unique signature of Goa'uld fire control sensors. Seconds later, a missile streaked out of the lone Scorpion and slammed into the drone, blowing it apart midair. A cloud of wreckage spewed onto the forest below.

"What was that?" Aron asked, debris raining down around their group.

"That is the Tau'ri sending help," Teal'c replied.

"Teal'c!" O'Neill's voice crackled over his radio. "Dropped a care package for ya. Should be just a bit to the northwest. Don't worry about the UAV- I didn't pay for it."

"Thank you for the assistance O'Neill," Teal'c said, and they headed off toward the landing site.

They moved at a moderate pace, slowed down by the lack of tretonin. The care package was a small black box with an olive drab parachute dangling from it. Teal'c immediately popped the top off of the container.

Contained inside were several vials of tretonin, two reusable injectors, two MP7s with extra magazines, and a note. On the note was scribbled "Hope this helps. Good hunting. O'Neill" Teal'c handed Ishta half of the tretonin, one of the injectors and an MP7.

"Night is falling," Aron noted. The sun was setting, and the light was starting to fail. "We should make camp for the night."

"Agreed," Teal'c said, injecting himself with tretonin and feeling the energy start to return to his body. "This clearing is too exposed."

They found a small tree surrounded by concealing bushes that would be suitable. They had no sleeping bags or mats, so they slept on the ground. Ishta agreed to take first watch, Teal'c second.

* * *

When Teal'c wore up, it was already morning. The light shocked Teal'c awake. "Ishta?" he muttered. "Ishta!"

The shouting awoke Aron. "Shhh," he whispered, looking around. Then he noticed there were only two of them. "Where is Ishta?"

The realization hit Teal'c like a punch to the gut. Ishta had probably tried to save the others. She was probably either dead or being tortured by Moloc. Either way, there was nothing they could do. "We must move," Teal'c said through gritted teeth. "We are lucky the patrols have not already found us."

He checked his gear, and found that his radio had been switched off. He switched it back on, and O'Neill's voice crackled out of it.

"-is Stargate Command, do you copy?" O'Neill repeated for the fifth time. "T, are you there?"

"I am here, O'Neill," Teal'c replied. "It is good to hear your voice."

"I called you seven times! Why didn't you answer?" Teal'c took that to mean "What's your situation?"

"Ishta is missing," Teal'c said gravely. "She probably intended to rescue those who were captured. Doubtless she turned off my radio."

"Damn it," O'Neill breathed. "Looks like we're gonna have to move a little faster than I would have wanted. Stay hidden and don't attempt a rescue. We'll be there soon."

"Acknowledged, O'Neill," Teal'c finished.

* * *

_Stargate Command_

O'Neill was hoping the supply drop would buy them more time. Unfortunately, it seemed to have the opposite effect.

It was an awful tactical situation. Ishta was captured and likely in the same place as Moloc. Which meant they couldn't just blow the shit out of it. They had very little intelligence. All they knew was that the Jaffa numbered in the low to mid hundreds and there was at least one Scorpion. The MQ-10 had mapped the surrounding terrain, and it didn't look good. Lots of hills and heavily forested.

They did know where Moloc's camp was. It would have to be a precision strike. They would have to move in quickly and neutralize all resistance before the hostages were killed.

"Do you see a Rainbow patch on my arm?" he had sarcastically asked Carter when she mentioned that. Indeed, very few in the AESF were trained for hostage rescue. There were a few ex-cops, and some spec-ops people who did counter-terrorism before. That was it.

The Hak'tyl wanted to help, which wasn't necessarily a good thing. They were trained differently, thought differently, and fought differently. Like warriors. There was a reason the warrior gave way to the soldier on Earth. And the little equipment the Hak'tyl had was garbage. Horribly inaccurate staff weapons, nothing resembling any sort of combat uniform, no armour, no electronics. There was barely enough time to equip them, and nowhere near enough to give them anything more than a basic explanation of tactics and how to fire a gun.

At the same time, they were potentially useful. They were skilled fighters, especially up close and personal. Most of them were skilled in woodcraft and could move quickly and quietly. O'Neill could never bring himself to use them as cannon fodder.

Five teams were geared up for the assault- SG-1, SG-3, SG-45, SG-46, and SG-114. Each had members of the Hak'tyl mixed in, bringing the usual four or five to eight or nine. The Hak'tyl members were provided with ACUPAT BDUs, boots, gloves, and the older (and mostly useless) Interceptor armour. They were also given Tau'ri weapons, radios, and a crash course in how to use the technology.

With Teal'c missing, SG-1 consisted of only two members. The total was brought up to three by the addition of Ka'lel. They were armed to the teeth. All three had Five-Seven pistols and SCAR-H rifles, Sam's with a grenade launcher. Across her back was a custom built Remington 700 rifle chambered in .338 Lapua Magnum and equipped with a Leupold scope.

Sam wondered if bringing the Hak'tyl along was a good idea or not. Ka'lel moved awkwardly and found the armour restrictive. Sam couldn't really blame her for that- the Interceptor vests _were_ heavy and cumbersome. The Hak'tyl felt strange wearing Tau'ri uniforms, but being warriors saw the advantage in the design. They objected to the weapons at first, just like the last group of Jaffa to receive them. Sam demonstrated the rifle, and soon they were all shooting decent groups. Her biggest worry was whether they would be able to take orders and follow a plan or not.

They were a strange sight in the gateroom. The Aegis armour worn by the AESF forces was differently shaped but coloured the same as the BDUs. Only the forehead tattoos and quickly-made shoulder patches marked the Hak'tyl as such.

Carter checked her watch. Go time. She put on her helmet and addressed the fifty or so troops. "All right. First priority is to rescue Teal'c and Ishta. Second is to take down Moloc. We don't know much about what we're going up against. We know they have at least one armoured vehicle and a few hundred Jaffa. Moloc and the hostages are probably in the same location.

"We go in quick and take out the defences. Move into their camp, clear it and bring our people out. The stakes are high, make no mistake. We screw up, they die and Moloc gets away.

"Walter, dial the gate."

* * *

_Hak'tyl II_

A decent sized force of four dozen Jaffa was left to guard the gate. They watched in bewilderment as several cylindrical objects tumbled through the stargate. Seconds later, they were on the ground, blinded and deafened.

The lead elements of the AESF/Hak'tyl combined force were already through. Concentrated gunfire ripped through the Jaffa ranks before they could react. Only a very few staff blasts flew back at them. One hit Carter in the left shoulder. The Jaffa who fired the blast took three bullets to the chest.

"Clear left!"

"Clear right!"

"Area clear!" Carter confirmed. "Move up."

The teams split up, heading in different directions. SG-1 would make contact with Teal'c and Aron. They moved quickly and quietly into the forest, leaving a mess of bodies in front of the stargate.

"Teal'c, this is Carter, we have cleared the stargate," Carter said. "What's your status?"

"This is Teal'c. I am alive and well, Colonel Carter," his voice crackled over the radio. "I am with Aron overlooking Moloc's camp. It is heavily fortified."

"Roger that, Teal'c," Carter replied, pushing aside a thorny bush with her gloved hand. "Got a fix on your position, we are en route."

The forest was dense, and their progress was slow. Teal'c was on the other side of Moloc's camp, and they would have to make a circle around it. The bush was thick, and moving through it stealthily was nearly impossible.

"Hold up!" Carter ordered suddenly, shouldering her assault rifle. "Jaffa patrol, three o'clock. Hold your fire."

"I see them," Ka'lel said, raising her rifle in a similar fashion.

"Open fire!" Carter ordered. She fired a long burst into the group, cutting down three of the six Jaffa. They were down before anyone could fire a shot back.

"Someone ought to have noticed that. Move out," she ordered. She noticed that two other teams had engaged the enemy in a similar manner.

* * *

They came to a large clearing. The ruins of an olive drab tent sat in the center of it, with bodies strewn everywhere.

"This must have been the original meeting site," Daniel mentioned.

"Yeah well, Moloc did a pretty thorough job," Carter said, examining the scene. "A barrage of staff blasts. Tore the whole place to- hold on. I'm picking up a lifesign!"

She rushed to the location of the detected lifesign. It was a Jaffa with the mark of Moloc. She knelt down next to him and put her hand behind his neck. It came back covered in sticky blood. The man stirred and locked eyes with her.

"Never had a chance," he managed to force out. "Ripped us to pieces... dishonourable... a false god."

As suddenly as it had been detected, his lifesign faded away. Just to be sure, Sam checked for a pulse and there was none.

"It is brutal and without honour," Ka'lel spat.

"There is no honour in war," Carter muttered sadly. "Come on. We should get moving."

They had moved twenty or so meters out of the clearing when Carter held up her hand to stop. "Contacts, lots of them... AMBUSH!"

She pushed Ka'lel to the ground, swinging around her rile as she did so. Staff blasts torrented from the bush, slamming into her shields. Sam swung her rifle around in an arc, ripping up several trees and three unfortunate Jaffa. Beside her, Daniel was on one knee, firing into the bush.

"Get up!" Carter yelled at the Hak'tyl woman, rolling off her and hopping into a crouch. "Multiple contacts! Take them down!"

Carter popped out the thirty-round magazine and slammed in a much larger hundred-round C-mag. Ignoring the staff blasts slamming into her shields and the ground around her, she brought the weapon up and fired back at the Jaffa, turning in a circle as she did. Time seemed to slow down, and she watched the lifesigns fade away from her proximity scanner. With Daniel and Ka'lel providing supporting fire, soon only a clump of five remained.

It was a clear shot. In a smooth movement, Sam took aim with the grenade launcher, tilting it almost perfectly to the recommended angle. Her finger slid to the trigger of the FN40GL and it broke smoothly as she curled it. The grenade sailed past the trees and detonated right on Jaffa armour. The concussion and fragments dropped the other four instantly.

Daniel helped Ka'lel to her feet. He noticed the black burn mark almost instantly. "You've been shot!"

"I did feel something," Ka'lel said, feeling the burnt composite plate on her side. "But dismissed it as nothing."

Sam inspected the damage. "Didn't penetrate, but you might have some light burns under there. Does it hurt?" she asked, poking the area gently.

"It is slightly sore, but I will be fine," Ka'lel said, wincing slightly. "The Hak'tyl never used any sort of armour, as that used by the Goa'uld is useless and impedes mobility," she noted.

"Yeah, well, we've been working on body armour for centuries," Daniel said. "And we still haven't been able to make anything that can take more than a few hits."

"As interesting as this discussion is," Carter said, "we have a mission to accomplish. Move out."

* * *

Teal'c swung around and had his MP7 trained on the source of the noise in a split second. He slowly lowered it as Sam, Daniel, and Ka'lel stepped out of the dense brush.

"You guys miss me?" Carter asked, smiling.

"Indeed," Teal'c nodded slightly. "What is our plan of action?"

"We provide support fire from here," Carter explained, surveying the scene. They had a good vantage point. The camp was composed of five tents of varying size and shape. "Flashbangs first, then we clear a path for the other teams. Hopefully we'll do it fast enough to save Ishta. Any idea which tent she's in?"

"None," Teal'c admitted.

"We'll just have to assault all of them, then," Carter said. "Teams, report in!"

* * *

"Team five, in position and ready to go!" Captain Roberts replied. Beside her was the standard four members, including the reporter. In addition, three Hak'tyl were with them, bringing the total up to eight. "Lock and load," she ordered.

"All teams... execute!" Carter ordered over the radio as flashbangs detonated in the camp. In seconds, they had leapt over the small mound that hid them from the enemy. They were right on the edge of the camp, perhaps fifteen meters from the closest tent. She shouldered the short SCAR-H assault rifle as they dashed toward the tents.

Roberts shot one of the guards right through the chest, and Somers took out a second dazed guard with a clumsy but effective burst. There was a loud crack of a sniper rifle and one of the Jaffa fell in his tracks. Still running, Roberts tossed a flashbang into the tent and dove through the flap.

Four Jaffa and one prisoner were inside. Melissa slammed into one Jaffa on her way in. On top of the man, she twisted around and fired a burst into one of the others. Sergeant Lewis was right behind her, and shot the other two in one smooth motion.

"Clear!" Roberts yelled, jumping to her feet. "Next tent, move!"

The rest of her team was already moving toward the next tent. It was the largest of them, and could probably fit fifty people easily. They were stacked up beside the entry flap. The rest of the camp was littered with bodies, the other teams having completed their mission just as quickly.

"What's the situation?" Roberts asked.

"Guy inside there," Amanda replied. "Says he'll execute the hostage if we enter. Asking for the 'shova'."

"Fuck," Captain Roberts breathed. Her sensor readout confirmed the threat. One male and one female lifesign, very close together. "Colonel, we have a situation."

"Copy that," Carter replied. "This could get ugly. Flashbang and storm the entrance on my go. SG-114 only. No Hak'tyl and no other teams. Sorry guys, less is more in this case."

"You heard the lady," Roberts ordered. "Somers, Chazan, this side with me. Brown, you're with Lewis on the other side." The flap door was easily wide enough for two people side-by-side. She pulled the pin out of a flashbang and Lewis did the same.

"Ready... GO!" Colonel Carter ordered. Roberts tossed her flashbang through and stormed in right behind it.

Moloc dragged Ishta around to face the attackers, forming a human shield, bringing up a zat as he did so. Melissa didn't hesitate. She fired a burst into his flank, even as the .338 Lapua bullet from Carter's rifle tore through his neck.

"You all right?" Roberts asked Ishta. She was on the ground, covered in blood and looked weak. The captain helped her up.

"I will be fine," Ishta assured her.

"Right. Let's get out of here," Roberts said.

"Something's wrong," Carter muttered as they regrouped. "Where are all the other Jaffa?"

"It is troubling," Teal'c agreed.

"We must leave," Ishta urged.

"You're right. Move out, but stay alert," Carter began heading back to the camp. "Don't worry, I'll catch up."

* * *

It was a quiet journey back to the stargate, which was even more disturbing. Their suspicions were confirmed quickly. The remainder of Moloc's Jaffa surrounded the stargate, between one and two hundred in all. The lone Scorpion was parked firmly in front of the gate.

"Damn," Roberts muttered.

Carter quickly brought up their inventory on her HUD. They had a single Star Streak launcher, which would do to take out the tank. They didn't have a lot of heavy weaponry. Two HIWS and one standard mortar.

But they did have one psychological weapon. Sam dropped Moloc's body to the ground, leaving streaks of blood on her shoulder and torso.

"Teams, get into position," she ordered. "Take out the Scorpion on my mark."

She waited for the other teams to move into the preplanned positions. There were several convenient points overlooking the stargate, a feature of the area's hilly terrain. "Execute!"

A Star Streak missile flew from its launcher, emitting a brilliant blue light. It took on a steep upward angle and slammed back down, blowing the Scorpion to pieces. Weapons in hand, the allied forces exposed themselves slightly, enough to be seen but not easily hit. Carter nodded to Ishta.

"Brothers!" she called, standing up. "Lay down your arms and join the free Jaffa! Moloc is a false god! Let the days of his tyranny be gone."

The Jaffa remained resolute, training their weapons on the direction of the enemy. One of them, dressed in gold armour, came forward.

"What you say is madness! Bow before the might of your one TRUE god, Moloc."

Ishta winked, and Sam rolled the body over the hill.

"There lies the body of your false god!" Ishta proclaimed.

"What trickery is this?" the Jaffa spat.

"We might have to do this the hard way," Carter said. "Get ready."

"It is no trickery," Ishta insisted, tensing. The Interceptor armour she had borrowed would only protect her torso, and not reliably.

The lead Jaffa looked the body over for a minute and raised his staff in front of him. Everyone tensed, but he dropped the weapon on the ground in front of him. The rest of Moloc's Jaffa followed suit.

* * *

_Stargate Command_

"So," O'Neill began as the group sat down in the briefing room. "How's the rebellion going?"

"Upon the death of their false god, most of Moloc's Jaffa have laid down their arms," Ishta explained. "However, Ba'al is already moving to capture Moloc's former domain. We cannot oppose him. We are evacuating those who are willing and leaving the rest to die by orbital bombardment."

"Excuse me, you're doing what?" Daniel asked, trying not to be horrified.

"Destroying Moloc's domain, as you suggested," Ishta said calmly. "We intend to keep as much of it as possible out of the hands of Ba'al."

"Still, every day Ba'al grows more powerful," Bra'tac added gravely. "Through invasion, subversion, whatever means necessary, he is absorbing the territory of the other System Lords. At the same time, our rebellion grows stronger. I fear we will have to act soon, or we will lose the opportunity."

His voice brightened. "But that is a concern for another day. Kar'yn and Rya'c are to be wedded in an hour, and I do not wish to spoil the occasion."

* * *

"Kar'yn, speak of your love and devotion to Rya'c," Bra'tac said.

"Rya'c, your heart is pure, and your spirit strong. You give me strength, and joy, and I will stand by your side. Always."

"Rya'c," Bra'tac nodded in his direction.

"Kar'yn, you are as beautiful as the sun. My love for you is like the morning rays that down over an endless day."

Bra'tac gently pushed their hands together. "The rite is complete. May you love and fight like warriors. Just not with each other."

There was a flurry of laughter, clapping and cheering as the couple kissed passionately.

* * *

I decided to end it with the wedding. This chapter kind of just wrote itself. It is much different than the original plan and the real episode. Even getting the punctuation in the right places for the wedding at the end was difficult. I really gotta work on this stuff. The portrayal of the canon characters seemed off to me, what do you think? Also, do you like the OCs or not? In any case, the next episode will involve the Genii, which is one of my favourite SGA factions. Expect a radically different plot and some OCs.


	17. S1E12 Counterstrike

**SGD 1x12 Counterstrike**

The Genii decide to invade Atlantis, but there's someone on the inside who will stop at nothing to protect Atlantis.**  
**

* * *

"This planet is basically the same size as Earth," Rodney explained. "Now, hurricanes on Earth never get as big as this bad boy because once they hit shore, the brakes get put on. Without as much landmass, it's free to get much, much bigger. According to the Ancient database, every 20 or 30 years the sea gets unseasonably warm. Like El Nino, that means-"

"McKay," Sheppard interrupted. "The bottom line."

"There's one really massive storm headed straight for us," McKay said.

"You just said these storms happen every twenty to thirty years," Weir said. "Atlantis must have some sort of safeguards against them. Some precautions put in place."

"In the past, the Ancients would either raise the shield or the city would be submerged deep enough not to be affected," Rodney explained. "Unprotected, there is a very real chance the storm could sink the city."

"So, can we do that?" Weir asked. "Raise the shield or submerge the city, not sink it." She mentally smacked herself for saying that.

"Well, we can-" Zelenka began to explain, but McKay cut him off.

"No way we can submerge the city," McKay dismissed. "But using our generators, we'll be able to raise the shield and protect the city."

"Then why are you so worried about it?" Sheppard asked.

"Because, Major, the shield takes a lot of power," McKay explained, exasperated. "We'll only be able to do it once, and it'll probably drain our Asgard generators completely."

"All right," Weir said. "How much time do we have?"

"Just under twelve hours," Rodney stated.

"What's you recommendation?" Weir asked.

"We'll need to set up the generators and get them hooked into the power grid," Rodney explained. "We also need to secure our vehicles and anything exposed or loose. Oh, and we should have a plan B."

"Such as?" Sheppard asked.

"Somewhere to evacuate to if things go south," the Canadian scientist answered.

"I thought you said we could just raise the shield and everything would be fine," Sheppard criticized.

"Do I need to explain all the things that could go wrong, Major?" Rodney replied. "We should evacuate non-essential personnel and have everyone else ready to go, just in case."

"All right," Weir concluded. "Rodney, Radek, I want you to work on interfacing our generators. Major, I want you to pursue possible evacuation sites, on the mainland and offworld."

* * *

Manaria was an advanced world by Pegasus standards. They had nice buildings, ornate furniture, and electric lighting. It was probably equivalent to Earth in the late industrial age, with a few differences. Sheppard and Ford were whisked off to some kind of meeting room shortly after arriving on their world. The person they were dealing with was, in a word, creepy. Oddly enough, he didn't seem surprised by their equipment or attitude.

"The entire population of Atlantis," Smeadon mused. He was dressed in all black robes, and paced around the table as he talked.

"Only for a couple days, at most," Ford replied.

"Maybe not at all," Sheppard said. "Most likely, we'll only need shelter for about half of our people."

"We are happy to trade with you for a share of our crops, but this," Smeadon shook his head.

"I know it's a lot to ask," Sheppard replied. "But I'm asking."

"What do you offer in return?" Smeadon asked.

"Well, I guess we'd owe you one," Sheppard replied.

"One what?" Smeadon asked, stopping his pacing.

"A favour," Sheppard answered, shrugging. "Look, we can always go somewhere else."

"Who else would take in so many," Smeadon mused in his creepy voice. "We need something valuable in return."

"Well, see, the way I see it is something like this," Sheppard explained. "You help us, we're friends. Maybe one day you'll need our help. You don't, and you're our..."

"You're telling me we can either be friends or enemies?" Smeadon asked.

"I much prefer friends," Sheppard said. "But if push comes to shove, we're moving in and you can't stop us. One night, two tops, we'll bring our own blankets."

Smeadon smiled. "Very well. You may send your people."

"This won't be forgotten," Sheppard said as they were escorted from the room.

When he was sure the outsiders were gone, Smeadon opened a drawer and pulled out a handheld metal device. He held it to his mouth and pushed the button.

"Relay station two, prepare to receive transmission," he spoke into the device.

"Station two, awaiting transmission, over," a male voice crackled from the device.

"I need you to relay a message to Cowen of the Genii."

* * *

"How's the evacuation going?" Sheppard asked Weir. He noticed several people were gathered in the gateroom, and others were packing. It was dark and stormy outside, and wind slammed at the buildings that made up Atlantis.

"We're about halfway there," Weir replied. "Teyla is with Ford and Beckett on the mainland overseeing the final evacuation."

"And the shield?"

"Rodney says about an hour, Zelenka says two. We still have a three hour window left."

"Hey, what's with the," Sheppard motioned. It had taken him a full five minutes to notice that Weir was in armour and carrying her helmet in one hand.

"I just like to be prepared ahead of time," Weir admitted. "I suspect things are going to get very busy in the next few hours."

"But why the armour? Don't tell me nobody packed raincoats!"

"Would you believe it if I said they forgot?" Weir said, smiling.

* * *

"Most people think that farming is planting good seed in well tilled soil," the Athosian man drawled. Smeadon was getting him incredibly drunk, but it was not out of kindness. He downed another cup of the beverage and continued. "It is, it is, but there's also more. And that knowledge is in here." He pointed to his head.

"And you want to trade these marvellous skills for a piece of my land?" Smeadon smiled. "I think I'll need something else from you."

A woman in a Genii uniform came up behind him, putting an arm around his throat and bending his fingers back.

Smeadon reached into the Athosian's clothing and pulled out a small grey device, handing it to a tall, grizzled man also wearing a Genii uniform.

"Tell me the sequence of numbers to enter into this device." The man said it like more like an order than a question.

"I can't tell you that!" he said weakly.

The woman tightened her grip. "Is it really worth dying for?"

"No, you don't understand," the man continued. "It has to be my hand that puts in the code, or it doesn't work."

"Sora," the man said, motioning to the man's hand. In an instant, the woman drew a knife and lopped off his right hand, hacking through with her razor-sharp blade in one slice. Blood splattered onto the knife and Sora's hands, and the man fell whimpering to the floor.

"Whoa, isn't that a bit extreme?" a man in an Atlantis uniform exclaimed.

"The codes," the Genii man requested, ignoring him.

"One-nine-three-eight-five," the man whimpered, clutching his bloody stump. Sora pulled out her pistol and shot him, blasting his head all over the floor.

"Jesus Christ!" the Atlantis man yelled. "What the fuck did you do that for?"

The tall Genii ignored him and turned to Smeadon. "You have done the Genii a great service, and for that we are grateful."

Smeadon smiled in his own creepy way as the Genii left the room.

* * *

Weir found herself alone in the control room. She wasn't really alone, but none of the core expedition members were with her. It was emptier than usual, only a handful of scientists remained. Two soldiers guarded the gateroom, and a scientist was with them, taking readings on something or other. Sheppard was helping Captain Stevenson secure their vehicles. McKay and Zelenka were in the power room, making some final checks on their equipment. Teyla and Lieutenant Ford were grounded on the mainland.

Outside, the water boiled and raged, rain beginning to drip onto the city. The wind whipped at the towers and exposed personnel. Weir found herself wandering downstairs, towards where Rodney and his team were working.

She was two flights down when the stargate activated. "Receiving Athosian IDC," a technician reported.

"Athosians?" Weir questioned over the communications net. Why would any Athosians want in. "Can you raise them on the radio?"

The technician tapped at his laptop, then shook his head. "No, ma'am."

Weir paused to think. If they weren't Athosians and she let them in... but it would be worse if they were Athosians and she didn't. "Lower the shield," she ordered.

The shield dropped, and an all-clear signal was transmitted to the supposed Athosians. Moments later, a group of people dressed in Genii uniforms emerged from the stargate, led by the tall, grizzled man. Two of them carried extremely large rifles.

The two guards turned to react, and there was a tremendous noise, like a small explosion, when the Genii fired their rifles. The first guard had not raised his shields, and the specially made rounds tore through the weaker faceplate of his armour. He collapsed to the ground, blood flowing from the holes in his helmet.

The second man was luckier. He managed to take cover behind a post and raise his shields. He leaned around the post, ready to fire.

"Don't shoot!" the tall Genii yelled. The scientist was in his grasp, arm around his throat and gun to his head. "Drop the gun!"

The soldier, not knowing what to do, backed away, nervously training his gun on the intruders. He was right in front of the window when the Genii fired on him. The sheer force of their fire, including two of the massively powerful rounds, was sufficient to knock him out the window.

"Lock down the tower!" Weir ordered, running back toward the control room. She yanked her helmet on and slammed on the button to raise shields. "Security teams to the gateroom!"

"Kavanaugh, patch me in to the communication net," the Genii man ordered. The Atlantis man who had been with them headed up to the control room, escorted by two Genii soldiers. Half of the expedition members raised their hands in surrender, the other half cowered on the floor.

Dr. Kavanaugh manipulated the controls on the communications console and handed the Genii man a headset.

"This is Acastus Kolya of the Genii. We have taken the gateroom and control room and have taken hostages. Any hostile action, and we kill the hostages. As of this moment, we are in control.

"Our demands are as follows. All of your C-4, all of your medical supplies, and one of your spaceships. You have three hours. After that, we will kill one hostage for each hour you delay."

* * *

Sheppard suddenly found himself in charge. With the control room occupied, there was no convenient command post. He decided to stay in the vehicle garage for the moment, then move to the power room where all the eggheads were.

"Kolya," he said. "That's awfully hard to pronounce."

"Spare me the antics, Major Sheppard," Kolya's voice rasped. "Will you provide us with what we request?"

"All of our medical supplies and all of our C-4?" Sheppard replied. "That's a lot to ask for."

"We are the ones with the hostages, Major," Kolya reminded him.

"Okay, I get it," Sheppard said. "But it'll take some time."

"Two hours fifty-eight minutes nineteen seconds and counting," Kolya said as Sheppard jogged toward the power room.

"Do you think they'll cave to our demands?" Sora asked Kolya.

"Not at first, no," Kolya replied coldly. "But after we kill the first hostage, they'll reconsider." He turned to face Kavanaugh. "When will you be finished."

"I've locked down the tower- nothing gets past the third floor," he replied. "Still working on the sensors, though."

Kolya tapped his communicator. "Ladon, how many others have you found?"

"Five more, but we've still got eight levels to go," he replied.

"Why'd you do it?" Dr. Peter Grodin, one of the hostages, asked.

Kavanaugh paused and pulled out a gold-coloured bar of metal.

"Money?" Grodin asked. "You do realize that's useless in the Pegasus galaxy, right?"

"Maybe," Kavanaugh replied. "That's not the only thing. Lead scientist of the Genii nuclear program is a pretty nice position."

"You're fucking insane," the scientist spat.

Kavanaugh shrugged and went back to his work.

* * *

Weir ducked into a storage closet and took several deep breaths. She nervously checked her pistol, trying to remember which way the safety went. She had very little training, no experience, and only one extra magazine.

Trying to communicate with Sheppard would be dangerous. That son of a bitch Kavanaugh would probably be able to listen in. If she screwed up, they'd kill the hostages. If they found her, they might kill the hostages.

Hearing footsteps, Weir got up and slid away down the hallway.

* * *

"Okay, what have we got?" Sheppard asked McKay.

"The Genii strike force has taken the control room and gateroom," McKay explained. "They've got about a dozen hostages and elements of their force are moving down to the lower sections of the tower. Which, by the way, is locked down on level three. Nobody gets in or out. Ingenious, isn't it?"

"Yeah, but that doesn't help us much, does it?" Sheppard said.

"No, no it doesn't," McKay continued. "This leaves us with a bit of a problem. I have limited access to communications and sensors, but the shield can only be raised from the control room. We'll be ready to fire it up in thirty minutes, but we can't physically turn it on. And of course, most of our medical supplies and C4 is in the tower, meaning they can just take it."

"Can't we blow open the doors and storm the tower?" Zelenka asked.

"No," Sheppard replied. "They'll kill the hostages. We have to take them down fast, preferably from multiple angles-"

"I think I've got something," McKay interrupted, bringing up a diagram of the tower. He zoomed in the image to a location two floors below the control room. "That's Elizabeth!"

"Can you patch me through to her?" Sheppard asked.

"Hold on," McKay said, tapping frantically on his tablet. "Done."

"Doctor Weir, this is Major Sheppard, please respond," Sheppard said.

"It's good to hear your voice, John," Weir replied, walking carefully down the hallway. "I'm stuck up here- there's no way out. I've tried already."

"Alright, just stay calm. What's your status?"

"I'm in full armour- you know that- but I've only got a pistol and one extra magazine. They haven't found me yet, but they're still searching."

"We're reading seventeen hostages and twelve Genii, can you confirm that?" McKay asked.

"Sounds about right. They got nine or ten in the initial attack and they've been combing the tower ever since."

"Ever used that gun before?" Sheppard asked.

"Only on targets, and not much."

"Try to avoid the Genii patrols and keep out of trouble-" Sheppard winced when he heard the gunshots.

* * *

They found her. Elizabeth was totally exposed, right in the middle of the hallway. The two Genii came up right behind her. It took only a moment for them to see her and begin firing. She ran for the end of the corridor as the bullets impacted her shields. Fumbling with her gun, she dived around the corner as the Genii advanced.

It granted her only a moment's reprieve. Weir drew her pistol and squeezed the trigger as the first man came around the corner. Nothing happened, and she flicked the safety the other way. By that time, the Genii had already grabbed the weapon. Elizabeth kicked at his shins. There was a sickening crack as her metal boot fractured his tibia. The second man was rounding the corner, and Weir backed away, firing at him as she did so. The fifth shot hit, puncturing the man's arm. She kept firing until the slide locked open. The Genii man was dead, having been hit a total of six times in the legs, chest and arms.

"Uh, Sheppard? I think I just got into trouble."

"Damn it!" Sheppard slammed his fist onto the table. He tried to calm down. "Okay, we have twenty marines- four teams- and a useless armoured battalion."

"Captain Summers?" he called.

"Yes sir?" he acknowledged.

"I need you to secure a perimeter around the base of the tower, but don't even think about breaching."

"Yes sir."

"Captain Stevenson, pick a tank and park it in plain view of the control room."

"Yes sir."

"Oh, and do we have any snipers?" Sheppard asked.

"Two dedicated marksmen, sir," Summers reported. "That's the best we can do."

"Good. Find some good spots with a view of the control room windows and put them there."

"Yes sir."

"Elizabeth, are you still there?" It was not the time to be formal.

"Yeah, I'm still here. I just killed two people and you know how that makes me feel," she said sadly. "I'm sure you'd do a much better job in my place."

"Look, I need you to stay calm," Sheppard replied. "We'll get through this. There's an armoury two floors down. I'm relaying the location."

"Damn it, Sheppard!" she yelled, momentarily losing control. "I just killed two people and probably a few hostages! And now you're telling me to get more guns so I can kill more people?"

"I know you aren't trained for this, but you're brave, you're smart, and you're flexible. You can do it. Kolya's not going to kill those hostages, I'll make sure of that."

"All right, I don't like this, but I'll do what you say. I'll call again when I reach the armoury," Weir replied, regaining some of her composure.

"What the hell?" McKay exclaimed. "Why is Kavanaugh here?"

"I don't know, maybe because he's a member of the expedition?" Sheppard said sarcastically.

"No, I distinctly remember him leaving for Manaria," McKay argued. "The logs show he did too. Oh, you have got to be kidding me. I mean, I know he's a jerk and all, but-"

"He's working with the Genii," Sheppard finished. "Well that's just great. How good is he?"

"Nowhere near as good as me, probably not even as good as Zelenka."

"Hey!" the Czech scientist yelled.

"What? I'm just telling him the truth," McKay protested. "Looks like he's trying to get into the sensor systems. Doing a damn messy job of it, too."

"Do what you can to stall him," Sheppard ordered. He examined the diagram. "Hey, who's this guy?" He pointed to a blinking dot just outside of the tower.

"A Private Stirling, he was assigned to guard the stargate. Don't know how he got there, but he's still alive, just unconcious."

"The Genii shot him off the balcony," Weir interjected. "Sorry, I don't know how to turn this thing off."

"It's okay," Sheppard began, but was interrupted by Kolya before he could continue further.

"Two of my men are dead!" he yelled. "I don't know who's wandering around in here, but they better come out. I _will_ start shooting hostages."

"You don't want to do that, Kolya," Sheppard counselled.

"I said no hostile action, I meant it! Two hostages for two of my men. That is the way the game is played, Major."

There were two gunshots, then Kolya cut the transmission.

"He's bluffing," McKay said. "See this readout? Still the same number of... nevermind. He shot them, they're just not dead."

"How badly are they injured?" Sheppard asked.

"Badly enough to register," Zelenka explained. "I don't know how bad that is. We're still figuring this system out."

"I killed them, didn't I?" Weir said weakly.

"They're not dead yet, and neither are you," Sheppard replied. "Don't be under any illusions. Unless we take him down, Kolya's going to execute the hostages anyway."

"Is that supposed to make me feel better?" Weir asked.

"Probably," Sheppard responded. "Look, I'll think of something. Are you at the armoury yet?"

"Yes, what should I take?" Weir asked.

"Take an M91, get a tac vest and grab some extra magazines," Sheppard instructed. "And flashbangs. Get some flashbangs."

"Which ones are the flashbangs?" she asked.

"McKay, can you get me a live video feed from her suit?"

"Yeah, why didn't one of us think of that sooner?" McKay brought up the video feed on a monitor.

"On your left, should be labelled M84. You've got 'em. Grab a few and tuck them into your vest."

Sheppard watched as she awkwardly grabbed the grenades. "McKay, can you tie her suit's sensors into our tactical readout?"

"Yeah, but there's no point since we have the city sensors."

"Hey, just an idea. What about the other way around?"

"You might be on to something there," McKay said. He typed a few commands into his tablet. "Doctor Weir, can you see that?"

"Yeah, I've got a map now," she replied. "Thanks for that. Where do I go from here?"

"Just try to avoid their patrols the best you can, and only engage if you have to. Oh, and if you have any suggestions, I'm open to them."

* * *

Weir peered down the corridor. There was a door at the end, and she went through, emerging at a staircase. The Genii were headed right in her direction, and seemed to be able to track her every turn. It would end in a confrontation soon, something she was trying to avoid.

"Damn, they seem to have gotten into the city sensors," Sheppard reported. "I don't like it and you don't like it, but you're going to have to engage them eventually. I'll do what I can to keep Kolya from killing those hostages."

"Got it." She sighed and crouched behind a crate, shouldering her weapon. The two Genii were side-by-side and she saw them long before they could see her. Elizabeth aimed at the men and held down the trigger, firing off an excessively long burst. She did not notice the third one who came up behind her. He brought his arm across her throat and clamped down tight.

Of course, the Aegis armour had been designed with that in mind, and the internal reinforcements protected the wearer's throat. Weir elbowed the man in the face, breaking his nose and sending blood spraying all over herself. Scrambling to her feet, she half-accidentally stomped on his chest, knocking the wind out of the man and sending more blood flying.

"Damn it, I don't have anything to tie him up with!" Weir yelled.

"Search him, maybe he's got something," Sheppard suggested.

After a quick pat-down which got a lot of blood on her gloves, Elizabeth found a length of rope probably meant to tie her up. She knotted it around the man's wrists and ankles, restraining him in an awkward position. The thought briefly occurred that he might bleed to death. _So much the better_, part of her said.

"What the hell are you doing?" she heard Kolya say over the comm. She kept running down the corridor.

"Well, you kind of did attack our guy," Sheppard replied. "So really, it's not a hostile action on our part."

"You killed two of my people and injured a third!" Kolya fumed. "We will not tolerate this!"

"Kolya, look out the window. See that tank? You start killing hostages, and we put a couple rounds through the control room, collateral damage be damned."

The Genii man paused for a moment. "You have one hour and fifteen minutes left, Sheppard. We will not kill a hostage... yet. Kolya out."

* * *

Unbeknownst to Sheppard and Weir, the people in Jumper Two had also heard the conversation. They were able to receive poorly through the storm, but unable to transmit. The rain had suddenly stopped, and the crew left the ship to investigate.

"Is the storm already over?" Beckett asked.

"We're in the eye," Ford stated.

"Right, has to be," Beckett agreed. "We're in the dead centre of the storm. The storm swirls around a twenty to forty kilometer wide area."

"How do you know so much about storms, doc?" Ford asked.

"Well, you pick up a wee bit here and there," Beckett dodged.

"This calm will not last," Teyla said, looking up into the sky. Indeed, they could see clouds in the distance.

"She's right, we should go now while we still can," the Lieutenant said, heading back into the jumper.

"Taking's off one thing, landing's quite another," Beckett argued. "Especially if the storm's already reached Atlantis."

"Well then let's stop wasting time and move now!" Ford shot back. "It can't be that dangerous, can it?"

"No, I suppose a little weather won't stop these sturdy ships," Beckett conceded. "But I'm not even a real pilot. Human error is the number one cause of crashes."

"Come on, doc, you can do it," Ford urged. "At least give it a shot."

"Well, I suppose I can try," Beckett agreed.

* * *

"Damn it," Sheppard muttered. There were seven Genii left if he counted correctly. They were concentrated in the gateroom and the control room. The problem was, there was no way to quickly storm that area. They could smash the windows- but they would have to get up there first. Climbing would be incredibly dangerous- they would probably get blown off by the wind. Private Stirling was still recovering from his concussion.

The worst part was that the clock was ticking. There was a little over an hour left on Kolya's deadline, but the storm was even closer. And the Genii had requested reinforcements. McKay had listened in to their communications and they had dialled the gate to send a message through.

"Is there a way to disable the stargate from here?" Sheppard asked.

"Not from here, no," McKay replied.

"What about raising the shield?"

"Which shield? The gate shield or the main one?" Zelenka asked.

"The gate shield, but now that you mention it, how is the main shield going?"

"No way we can raise either from here," McKay replied. "If we don't raise the main shield in the next hour or so, the city will sink, but I'm sure you already know that."

Sheppard paused, an idea forming in his head. "Is there anywhere else the shield could be raised from, other than the control room?"

"Which one?"

"The gate shield!" Sheppard said.

"Hold on," McKay said, searching. "Yes, it could theoretically be activated manually from this room." He pointed to the screen showing the diagram of the tower. "Here, below the- uh oh. Incoming wormhole!"

"Damn it!" Sheppard swore for what was probably the thousandth time that day. "Elizabeth, I need you to get up to this room ASAP. Sending you the location now."

* * *

Getting to the room wasn't a big problem. Weir dashed up several flights of stairs with incredible speed. Her trinium-armoured boots pounded against the Ancient flooring as she passed one group of Genii who could never hope to catch up.

By the time she made it to the room, the gate was already activating. It seemed like some kind of maintenance area, housing a computer console and several pillars with clearly defined access hatches. A few supply crates were stacked in the corner.

"Alright, what now?" she asked.

"Open this panel," McKay directed. A green box was superimposed over the correct panel on her HUD. The expedition leader hurried over and popped it off. "Third crystal, pull it out and move it over three spaces to the right."

Weir pulled out the crystal and moved it over. "Now enter the Ancient version of one-three-three-seven on the control console," the scientist continued. She entered in the code and was rewarded with a bleeping sound and could faintly hear the gate shield activating.

"That did it," McKay said to Sheppard more than Weir. "The Genii are being squashed against the shield like bugs."

Major Sheppard smiled with grim satisfaction as he listened to the radio chatter. "Stop sending the reinforcements!" a panicked voice exclaimed. "The stargate shield has been raised! Shut it down! Shut it down!"

Dr. Weir, on the other hand, had mixed feelings. On one hand, it was pretty brutal and pretty gruesome. On the other hand, it wasn't undeserved. She did not have much time to think about it, however. A trio of Genii soldiers had taken the opportunity to catch her trapped in the room.

"Turn around slowly, with your hands up," one of them said, pointing the oversized rifle at her.

"What should I do?" Weir whispered.

"Remember those flashbangs?" Sheppard advised calmly. "Stealthy as you can, pull out the pin and drop one."

Weir reached for one of the flashbangs with her right hand, pulling out the pin with her other. As she began to raise her arms, she dropped it, letting go of the fly-off handle. A second later it detonated, too quick for the Genii to react. In an instant, they found themselves deaf and blind. Protected by her armour, Elizabeth had the advantage.

The man with the large rifle fired off one wild round, hitting Weir's leg with enough force to feel. She responded with a burst of M91 fire. At point blank range, it was impossible to miss. Seconds later there were three bodies on the floor, lying in their own rapidly pooling blood.

It was disgusting, and she nearly threw up. The sight was bad enough, and she was glad that she couldn't smell anything. Reloading her weapon, Elizabeth turned and left the room, not looking back.

* * *

"Huh," Rodney blurted. "I'm picking up a jumper closing fast on the city. Reading IFF- it's jumper two with Lieutenant Ford, Teyla and Carson on board."

"Patch me through," Sheppard ordered. He paused to give Rodney some time. "Jumper two, this is Major Sheppard, do you copy."

"We read you loud and clear," Ford replied. "We've been listening but unable to contact you."

"Okay, good. Now listen. I want you to land at these coordinates," Sheppard quickly located a mostly empty section of the city and relayed the location. "We're going to swap out those Athosians for marines and take back the tower."

"Roger that sir," Ford replied.

There was no more time for conversation. Kolya's angry voice blared through the comm. "What the hell was that, Sheppard? Fifty-five of my men are dead thanks to your inside man. I will not tolerate this any longer. Two hostages will die now and two more for every minute you waste!"

Sheppard needed a plan, some way to stall the Genii just a bit longer. What the hell. It was worth a try.

"Kolya," he began. "I'm going to let you in on a little secret. Sergeant Anderson has been operating on his own accord. He stopped listening to us hours ago. Now if you unlock the tower and let us in, we can take him down."

It took only a moment for Sheppard to realize his mistake. What if one of the Genii had got a good look at her? _Stay dumb, just a little bit longer,_ he prayed. Swapping channels, he ordered, "Summers, pick eight of your best people and get to the LZ."

"Do you take me for a fool?" Kolya spat.

"Okay, no dice on that. Look, if you give us some time, maybe we can talk him out of it," Sheppard explained, leaving the room at a moderate run.

"Where are you going?" Rodney asked.

"To the jumper," he replied, making sure he was on the right channel.

"Your inside man will stop immediately, or the hostages will suffer the consequences. Two of them are injured. Perhaps I will throw one out a window as a warning. Oh, and I've decided to cut the deadline to half an hour." It was the closest thing to a concession Kolya had given them so far.

"Look, Kolya," Sheppard said, still dashing toward the jumper. "The storm's blowing in fast, and pretty soon there won't be an Atlantis left to fight over. However this ends, this is going to end soon. We both know that!"

"And yet you still offer nothing. If your Sergeant Anderson attacks one more time, we execute the hostages. If you make any aggressive moves, we execute the hostages. If you do not provide what we requested, we execute the hostages."

* * *

"Do you think Major Sheppard will make a move?" Sora asked in the control room.

"I'm betting on it," Kolya replied, pausing for a moment. He knew when a mission was going better than expected, when it was going as planned, and when it was a disaster. Fifty-five killed by the stargate shield alone! They had only a handful of people left, and had taken what supplies they could. The data storage device was nowhere to be found. They had hostages, but if they executed them, Sheppard would storm the place. "Sheppard is right. The storm could sink the city, and it's closing fast. We must take what we can and move out quickly. Kavanaugh, what's the status on the stargate?"

"I've disabled the shield," the former expedition scientist replied, looking up from his console. "That's the good news. The bad news is that there is no way to dial the gate without Sheppard knowing."

"Then your work is complete," Kolya said. He nodded to Sora. Kavanaugh didn't have time to scream before two bloody holes appeared in his chest. He slumped back in his chair, body limp in death. "Dial the gate. We're leaving," he ordered.

Ladon Radim was on the third chevron when the power failed, the consoles shutting down and the lights going out.

"What the hell is going on?" Kolya asked, moving up into the control room.

"Someone's cut the power," Radim replied.

"Can it be fixed?"

"Probably, but you executed the only person who knows how a minute ago."

"Sheppard's planning something," Kolya mused. "Be on your guard."

* * *

Kolya was correct. After Weir disabled the power, Sheppard brought the jumper down into the jumper bay. McKay had managed to get the doors open beforehand.

"Two groups," Sheppard ordered. "Ford, Teyla, Stackhouse, and Beckett, with me. Captain Summers, take everyone else and storm the gateroom on my go. They have hostages, so we have to do this quick and clean. Flashbangs first, then rush the room. Snipers, take out who you can when we go in. Lethal force is authorized. Move out."

"Why me?" Beckett asked, following them.

"There's probably going to be wounded," Sheppard explained. "Grab your medical supplies."

"Alright, fine, but I'm not shooting anyone," the doctor said, quickly grabbing a few bags.

"What should I do?" Weir asked over the comm.

"Are you okay with killing a couple more people?"

"They tried to take my city, John. Then they tried to kill me."

"All right. Meet me here, outside the control room."

* * *

It had been a full five minutes since the power failure. The Genii were tense, waiting. Kolya knew they were between a rock and a hard place. If any of them left to restore power, they would probably be killed. If they stayed, at least they had some cover. Sheppard was definitely making a move. The waves were lapping against the city, the outermost sections starting to experience minor flooding. There was a third option. Of course, if he killed the hostages, they would probably move in even quicker.

Slowly, Kolya raised the communicator to his lips. "This is Kolya. I want power restored."

"Too bad, Kolya," Sheppard replied from just outside the control room door. "This ends now."

Weir tossed her last two flashbangs in and forced the door open. Downstairs, Summers' team did the same. She stormed in, Sheppard right behind. Two dazed Genii stumbled in front of her, and she gunned them down ruthlessly. One other was firing in the direction of the neatly lined up hostages, and Sheppard put a burst into him. Teyla and Lieutenant Ford each took down one other.

Teyla whirled around just before Sora jumped out from the shadows. She drove her elbow into the Genii woman, sending her sprawling. Surprisingly tough, Sora jumped back to her feet, drawing a knife. She charged toward Teyla, suddenly falling over and dropping her knife in pain. Sheppard had put a round in her leg.

"Gateroom clear!" Summers yelled.

"Control room clear, but there's one guy in Weir's office. Probably Kolya," Sheppard finished.

Weir forced the door open effortlessly. Inside, Kolya had stashed one of the large rifles. He popped up from behind the desk, putting one shot perfectly into Elizabeth's faceplate. It impacted her shield and knocked her backwards, but failed to actually penetrate. From the floor, she fired into the wooden desk. Kolya screamed as the bullets perforated his legs. She vaulted over the desk and slammed Kolya to the floor. There was a sickening snap, which she ignored, zip-cuffing his hands together behind his back.

"Kolya's down and secured," Weir said.

"Good," Sheppard replied. "We should probably raise the shield before the city sinks."

"Agreed. Rodney, have you reached the power room yet?"

"Yeah, I'm here," the scientist replied. "Do you want the power turned back on now?"

"No, Rodney, just leave it off and let the city sink," Weir replied sarcastically.

The dark room brightened when the power came back. The lights turned back on and the consoles all powered up again. "Well, sorry, but how was I supposed to know?" Rodney shot back.

Weir fought the urge to retch at the blood all over her desk, Kolya, and the floor. He was bleeding quite badly, and fought to stay conscious. "Medical teams to the control room," she said, running back into the larger area. Beckett was busy treating the two wounded hostages. "Sheppard, raise the shield."

"Got it," Sheppard said. As the shield formed a bubble around the city, a rogue wave came crashing into it. The wall of water gave the brief impression of being submerged, but it passed quickly over them.

Weir took a deep breath and tried to relax. It was finally over. She had killed several people, directly and indirectly, her armour was stained crimson with blood, her office was a mess, but it was finally over.

* * *

"So, what are we going to do with the Genii?" Sheppard said. "The ones that survived, anyway."

"I was thinking of sending them back," Weir replied. "It could help ease tension between our people."

"We did vaporize fifty of them against our shield and shoot most of the others, though."

"An act of good faith never hurts."

"You're extremely optimistic, do you know that?"

"You think so?"

"So, how are you holding up?" Sheppard asked after a pause.

"Not too bad, all things considered," Weir admitted. "I've never killed anybody or been shot at before. Part of me regrets doing it, the other part recognizes that it was necessary and things could have gone much, much worse."

"You did pretty good up there," Sheppard complimented.

"You didn't do so bad yourself," Weir replied.

"Still, I think it would have gone smoother if I was in the tower and you were the negotiator."

"No kidding," Weir replied.

* * *

In retrospect, I'm not sure if swapping Sheppard and Weir was the right choice? What do you think?


	18. S1E13 Mercenaries

**SGD 1x13 Mercenaries**

I apologize for the lateness of this chapter. It was supposed to be finished close to a month ago. Unfortunately, I did not finish it when I had time due to sheer laziness, then got caught up in other things. It's here now, though, but I still have a long way to go for this "season" alone. I'm not happy with a lot of the conversations in this chapter, but I'd rather just get it released than spend ages revising.

Music Suggestions? Mass Effect Main Theme for the beginning, The Attack (Mass Effect 2 soundtrack) later on.

* * *

_Stargate Command_

O'Neill was shuffling papers idly, trying to put off the bureaucrap, when his phone rang. Walter was on the other end.

"Detecting several ships entering orbit, sir," he reported. "They're Asgard."

The General had just enough time for a quick "YES!" before he was whisked up onto one of the ships by way of Asgard beaming technology.

"Thor!" O'Neill greeted. "Are my ships here yet?"

"The three Beliskners have been provided, as requested," Thor replied. "Unfortunately, the ones I have acquired are in sub-optimal condition."

O'Neill's face fell. "That means?"

Thor brought up a hologram. It was of a very beaten-up looking Beliskner class cruiser. "The first has severe battle damage. Large areas are decompressed. Life support is barely operable, most weapons have been destroyed, and it lacks shields. Engines are at minimal capacity."

Another, somewhat less destroyed ship appeared. "This one is less damaged, but still has several damaged systems and hull breaches." The ship disappeared and another one in much nicer condition took its place. "I was able to acquire one in nearly pristine condition. It lacks a functional deceleration drive, however. I am sorry, O'Neill, but we are still rebuilding after the Replicator attack."

Well, it was better than nothing. "Thanks, I guess," O'Neill replied. "So, are you going to stay for dinner, or..."

"I have business to attend to," Thor said simply before beaming the General back down into his office.

"That was fast," O'Neill muttered before dialling General Hammond's office on his phone. He picked up immediately.

"General Hammond."

"Hi, General. Thor just showed up and dropped off a package."

"Oh, hello Jack, I was about to call you. Yes, we saw them on sensors. Supreme Commander Thor must have been in quite a hurry- he's already long gone. Two of the ships look pretty badly damaged."

"Yeah, I talked to Thor about it. Apparently that's the best he could do. At least they're in a... they are in a stable orbit, right?"

Hammond paused to confer with an aide. "As far as we can tell. I'm arranging to send teams up. Don't worry, Jack, I don't have to steal any of your people."

"Be careful with the one that doesn't look damaged," O'Neill warned. "It doesn't have a deceleration drive- well, not a working one anyway."

"I'll pass that along. So, how have you been holding up?"

"Not too bad, actually. I hate all this paperwork, though."

Hammond chuckled. "Believe me, it's not half as bad as the Air Force was."

"I'll take your word for it, sir."

"If it's good enough for you," Hammond replied lightly, then turned serious. "I've been considering another mission to Atlantis."

"Sir?" was all Jack could manage.

"It'll be a space mission, since we've had no luck with those Asgard generators. The _Daedalus_ and _Athena_ are complete. The _Prometheus_ has been fully repaired and we now have three Beliskners as well. The DTCS system is covering most major population centers. We've never been in a better position."

"I doubt that's enough firepower to defend against a major attack, sir."

"The Goa'uld don't have the resources to come back in the same strength, and they're still afraid of the Ancient weapon."

"True, sir."

"Besides, the Atlantis expedition could be in serious trouble. We haven't heard from them since the initial journey."

"Maybe they ran out of power?"

"We just don't know. They might have found Ancients in need of help, they might have found another enemy. Whatever the case, it's been months and if we can send help, we should."

"Yes sir. So, who's leading this second expedition?"

"A Colonel Steven Caldwell. He was slated for the _Daedalus_ but we're transferring him to the _Athena_ for the time being. I would have gone myself, but they wouldn't let me do it. There's one more thing, Jack. I'm going to need Daniel Jackson."

"I need him, sir."

"You can make do. We have no idea what's on the other end and he's the best man for the job. I was hoping to save some paperwork by asking nicely, but I can always just transfer him."

General O'Neill sighed. "All right, you can have him. It's not like I have much of a choice."

* * *

_Starship Construction Facility, Nevada USA_

The _Athena_ sat serenely in the cavernous hangar. She retained the blocky, utilitarian look of the other Tau'ri ships for the most part, but was more sleek and tapered. The flight pods were large, but only the front portion was actually used for fighters. The conning tower was short and squat with the CIC in the base. At 988 meters long, the _Athena_ was as long as two Empire State Buildings. Running down almost the entire length of the ship was a mass driver, similar in theory to the railguns but much, much larger. It was estimated that the massive gun could take out a Ha'tak in one shot using the right ordinance, but it was slow firing.

In addition to the mass driver, the _Athena_ was equipped with vertical missile tubes, medium-sized railguns and an all-new point defence system. Codenamed _Aspis_, it consisted of several elements, all linked together and fully computer controlled. The first consisted of several 100kW solid state lasers arranged on turrets for short-range engagement. At medium range, railguns would be used to attack fighters. Finally, Star Streak /S box launchers provided the ability to hit fighters before they entered firing range.

An Asgard hyperdrive provided intergalactic range, powered by two redundant reactors. With inertial dampers and powerful sublight engines, the _Athena_ was only slightly less manoeuvrable than the _Prometheus_, despite being much larger and heavier. She was equipped with all the latest tech, including Asgard sensors, beaming technology, and crystal based computers.

* * *

_AES Athena_

Daniel couldn't help but be impressed as he walked through the smooth grey corridors of the ship. The designers had done a good job. It was utilitarian but looked good too. He noticed that the wall panels could pop out for maintenance access. The entire ship was lit by cool blue LED lighting.

_Athena_'s CIC was much more advanced than the one on _Prometheus_. The room was dominated by a large holographic display with stations arranged around it. Forward of the display was the captain's chair and helm stations, giving the CIC a teardrop shape. There were no windows, but the walls were covered in flat panel displays, several displaying outside views. ATHENA was emblazoned in futuristic letters on the back wall, with the ship's symbol (a female hoplite) below it. Lighting was toned down and the glow of the various displays was clearly visible.

Colonel Caldwell rose from his chair. He was and balding, with the remaining hair the same colour as his grey uniform. "Welcome aboard, Dr. Jackson. What do you think of the Athena?"

"Pretty impressive," Daniel allowed. "Of course, it's nothing compared to Atlantis."

"I admire your optimism, Doctor, but Atlantis might not even be there anymore," Caldwell replied. "Okay, let's get this show on the road. Disengage docking clamps and take us into orbit."

There was a slight jolt as the docking clamps released and a low rumble as the ship began rising out of the dock, propelled by immense engines.

"If you don't mind me asking, is it really a good idea to take a starship to another galaxy as its maiden voyage?" Daniel asked.

"Everything is tested and checked out," Caldwell replied. "We have to cross the Milky Way first and we have a stargate with us. If anything goes wrong, it'll go wrong before we leave the galaxy."

"Let's hope we don't have to test that," Daniel said wryly. They were out of the atmosphere now, and Daniel could pick out the continents through the clouds. Closer by, he noticed one of the lumpy DTCS satellites with a short and fat but oddly sleek C-308 parked beside it. One of the screens switched to a zoomed in view, showing an astronaut snapping off a two-finger salute to the _Athena._

"We are in stable orbit, sir," the helmsman replied. "We're ready to go, waiting on your signal."

"Doctor Jackson, would you like to do the honors?" Caldwell asked.

Daniel nodded. "Take us to Atlantis."

* * *

"The last reported MALP telemetry from Atlantis indicated an enclosed space with viable life support-"

Daniel was rudely interrupted by a loud hiccup as the last person entered the briefing room. It was equipped with a large oval table and a holoprojector in the middle. Like most of the _Athena_, it was bigger, aesthetically better, and more functional compared to prior Tau'ri ships.

"Do you have something to add, Doctor Novak?" Caldwell asked the newcomer.

"Uh, the Asgard hyperdrive is functioning at one hundred percent, sir. Engine temperature is in the green and reactor output is balanced to point zero zero one percent."

Daniel continued his speech. "Now, we're going on the assumption that the Atlantis expedition found the lost city and was able to set up a base of operations there."

"That's assuming that there is an Atlantis on the other end," Caldwell said.

"What we're assuming is that they were unable to interface the Asgard generators or locate an alternate power source," Daniel replied.

"But it is a definite possibility that they ended up stranded in space or at the bottom of some deep dark ocean." Novak countered. Another hiccup. "Excuse me."

"Yes, it is possible. We've been able to locate their position based on the address but we don't know what's actually there."

"So what you're saying, Doctor Jackson, is that we have no idea what's out there," Caldwell summarized.

"Yes, when it comes to information, we really don't have much-"

He was cut off by another hiccup. "Damn it to hell!" Novak yelled, and proceeded to engage in some strange action involving a cup of water.

"There could be an enemy, like the Goa'uld or worse in the Pegasus galaxy," Caldwell theorized.

"It's a definite possibility, yes."

"Once we leave the Milky Way, we're into the unknown," Caldwell said. "I still don't like what they did with my reserve missiles and mass driver magazines." The _Athena_ had reloadable VLS tubes, with the reserve missiles stored below. The vast majority had been filled with food, equipment and other supplies instead of missiles. In addition, two of the four mass driver magazines had been used for cargo space instead of ammunition storage.

"With all due respect Colonel, expedition supplies are more important than ammunition," Daniel replied. "This is a relief mission, not a combat mission."

"I've heard that one before," the Colonel grumbled. "Meeting adjourned."

* * *

Daniel headed to the CIC as soon as he heard the first alarm ring. The electronic beeping sound meant the ship was going to Condition Two, which was between normal operating and battle stations.

"Readiness stations, readiness stations, all hands to readiness stations. Readiness stations, readiness stations, assume Condition Two." Throughout the ship, several previously empty posts were filled, doors were shut and systems brought online. Those who were not involved quickly finished what they were doing, because it was not uncommon for readiness stations to be followed by battle stations. Drill or not, it was serious business.

"We're picking up what looks like a distress signal," Caldwell told Jackson as he entered the CIC. "Lieutenant Marks, play it back."

It was a garbled female voice. Daniel could barely make out the phrases "help" and "systems have failed". He glanced at the galaxy map display. Still well inside the Milky Way.

"What do you make of it, Doctor?" Caldwell asked.

"Well, as much as I hate to delay this trip, I think we have to check it out."

"We'll have to be careful about this- I don't want to interfere in an interstellar war or get blown up by a Goa'uld trap. How far out are we?"

"About ten minutes out, twenty-five light-years," Lieutenant Marks replied.

"Sound battle stations," Caldwell ordered. "Take us in."

"Battle stations, battle stations, all hands to battle stations," loudspeakers announced, and Daniel realized that it was actually a recording. "Battle stations, battle stations, assume Condition One."

A deep alarm sounded following the announcement. The lights in the CIC dimmed and several of the displays changed. The previously-dormant holographic display lit up, showing a three-dimensional tactical readout. The shields were brought up to full power, weapons were loaded and compartments secured. The _Athena _bustled with activity, with crew rushing to their posts.

"Status, XO?" Caldwell asked. The "wet navy" guys he trained with influenced him more than he thought.

"All weapons at full readiness, sir." Major Sidorova was a thin, tall woman, with her dark brown hair pulled back in a tight bun. She was former VVSR and spoke with a strong Russian accent. "Both reactors at full power, shields are raised. Defence teams on standby, fighters ready for scramble."

"Thank you, Major. ETA?"

"Four minutes thirty-seven seconds," she called out from her position aft of the central display.

They were well within FTL sensor range. "Sensors, what are we looking at?" Caldwell asked.

"Looks like a small ship- make that two small ships, sir," the sensor officer replied. "Tel'tak or Al'kesh sized. Drive signatures are consistent with a Goa'uld or Goa'uld derived engines."

There was a brief lurching as they emerged from hyperspace. "Visuals confirm one Al'kesh and one Tel'tak," the sensor officer reported. "Both have suffered significant damage."

"Which one is transmitting the distress call?" Caldwell asked.

"The Al'kesh, sir. One lifesign aboard."

"Two ships, a human distress call, signs of battle," Caldwell mused. "What do you think?"

"Could be a trap, sir," Major Sidorova offered.

"Or there could have been an uprising aboard one of the vessels," Daniel countered.

"We don't have enough information to tell," Caldwell concluded. "Open a channel to the Al'kesh."

"This is Colonel Steven Caldwell of the Earth ship _Athena_, we are standing ready to assist."

There was no response. "General, an Al'kesh is potentially valuable ship," the executive officer said. "We need to send teams over and determine if it is spaceworthy."

"Very well. I want two teams geared up and ready to go on the double," Caldwell ordered. "Let's see what's on those ships."

* * *

Lieutenant Eriksson's team was the first to go. Dressed in armor and carrying a full loadout of weapons and gear, the four-person team stepped onto the pad. The Lieutenant gave the ring technician a thumbs-up. Moments later, the rings came up and the team disappeared in a flash of light.

"All right, it's go time," Captain Teldy said to her team as they stepped onto the pad. Lieutenant Eriksson and his team went to the cargo ship; they would be going to the Al'kesh.

It is a well known fact that ring transporters functionally "swap" the matter they are transporting. Captain Teldy's team disappeared and the armored form of a Kull Warrior appeared in their place.

"Get down!" one of the two guards shouted, opening fire at close range. The technician sounded the alarm and ducked down behind the console.

The Kull closed the short distance between them, firing back. The bullets wouldn't penetrate the Kull armor, and the energy bolts were stopped by the guards' shields. One of them yanked the technician up and pulled him out of the room as the other covered their retreat.

"Security teams to the ring room, we have a Kull onboard," a voice announced as six more marines stormed down the corridor, weapons in hand. They surrounded the Kull, reinforcing the two guards. They pointed their guns at the warrior, ready to fire and hope the sheer volume would do some damage.

Surprisingly, the Kull raised a hand in the near-universal gesture of _stop_. The AESF soldiers held their fire, but kept their weapons clearly trained on the Kull. It was very unusual for them to do anything but kill. The Kull Warrior raised its other hand and removed its helmet, revealing a woman with long black hair. She opened her mouth to speak, but was cut off by a zat blast to the head.

"Colonel, subject is secure," the squad leader reported. "Looks like a human female, in her thirties probably. Came in wearing Kull armor. She has naquadah in her blood, but does not appear to be a host."

"Understood," Caldwell replied from the bridge. "Take her to the brig and strip her of weapons and armor."

"Acknowledged, sir. Leon, Ramirez, grab her. Let's go."

"Well, she's got a lot of explaining to do," Caldwell said. "Doctor Jackson, would you care to meet with our guest and figure out what she knows?"

"I'd love to," Daniel said dryly, leaving the bridge. He had no idea how long it would take her to wake up, but he would be there when she did.

There were still two teams, one on board each of the ships. "Captain Teldy, report."

"One dead Jaffa-" Teldy began, then paused. "Make that four dead Jaffa. A lot of staff blasts- there was a fight here. The ship's in bad shape, but Porter thinks it can be fixed."

"Lieutenant Eriksson?"

"Staff blasts, but we have not found any corpses. The atmosphere is nearly unbreathable, and we are using our own air supply. We do not know if the vessel is repairable or not."

"Very well. We will begin salvage operations ASAP, in the meantime I want you to stay there and keep an eye on things. Caldwell out."

* * *

Embarrassingly, what was supposed to be a fast, direct trip to the brig took a lot longer. Daniel found himself getting lost several times. One time he had to actually ask a passing lieutenant where to go. The _Athena_ was a lot bigger than the _Prometheus_, and organized differently as well.

"You got here just in time, sir," one of the guards said as he arrived. The brig section was small, with a handful of tightly-sealed cells. Both guards were armored and armed. "She just woke up. In the interrogation room."

"Anything special about her?" Daniel asked. "Was she carrying anything interesting?"

"Apart from the Kull suit, she had a ring of some type. Looks like Goa'uld origin, but the eggheads are still analyzing it. Had a zat, never used it. She seems to have naquadah in her bloodstream, possibly a former host."

The other, silent guard tried to follow him into the interrogation room. "No, it's alright. Just be ready if something goes wrong."

"Yes, sir," the woman replied. Was that a German accent? "I'll watch the monitors for trouble."

Daniel entered the drab grey room and closed the door. The only furniture in the room was a table, bolted to the floor, and two chairs, deliberately the cheapest and weakest model available. Across from him was the woman who had boarded the _Athena_. She was dressed in a plain grey jumpsuit, devoid of any patches or insignia. Her black hair hung loosely and messily around her neck and shoulders. He could see several bruises forming- no doubt she tried to resist. The expression on her face gave nothing away.

"Hello, my name is Daniel Jackson," he began. "Do you have a name?"

The woman was a bit taken aback. Usually when she was in this sort of situation they started the hitting right away. "Vala. Vala Mal Doran. Who are you, exactly?"

"I'm an archeologist, a historian."

"Then why are you doing the interrogation, and not the lovely lady standing outside with the big gun?"

"Uh, I wouldn't call this an interrogation, exactly-"

Vala cut him off. "Fine. Whatever. What I meant was, what planet are you from?"

"Earth, Tau'ri, Midgard, heard of it? It's kind of in the middle of Ra's old territory, we're the ones who have been stirring up the-"

"Ah yes, the Tau'ri, the ones who supposedly brought down three major System Lords. I'm sorry, was I interrupting?" She smiled charmingly.

"So, Ms Mal Doran, why did you attempt to board our ship?"

"Actually," she said, smiling. "It's not an attempted boarding- I did get on board so the boarding part is successful. However some consider a boarding successful only if it results in the capture of the other ship."

Daniel listened to her spiel patiently. "Yes, that's nice, but why did you board this ship?"

"Well, to take it, obviously, but I guess I underestimated how good you guys really are." Another winning smile. Didn't she realize the charm thing wasn't going to work?

"Okay, that's a start, but why do you want this ship?"

She paused for a moment, thinking. About what? Before Daniel had much of a chance to think of possibilities, she opened her mouth. "I'm trying to save the last of my people. Hundreds of lives are at stake and this ship is their only hope."

Daniel leaned back. Was she telling the truth? He doubted it, but if she was, it would be wrong not to help her. "Then why didn't you just ask?"

"I didn't think that anyone would care!" she nearly shouted. In a calmer voice: "It's a nice ship, and big enough to take all my people in one go. When I found it was passing through the sector..."

She looked up, tears in her eyes. "I was desperate. I saw the opportunity, and I took it."

Daniel looked into her eyes. Archeologist or not, he had become pretty good at reading people over the years. He didn't know if she was lying or not. He did see that she was tricky, among other things. Maybe another tactic would work...

"We found naquadah in your bloodstream. Yet you aren't a Goa'uld. What happened?" Daniel asked.

Vala didn't answer. Better to keep her mouth shut.

"Look, Vala," Daniel said in a softer voice. "You can talk to me, or you can talk to one of the military members. A lot of them are willing to extract information from you using any means necessary."

Daniel waited what seemed like an eternity. "Okay, fine. Have it your way," he said, heading for the door.

"No, wait!" Vala called. "I was once host to a Goa'uld."

"Now we're getting somewhere," Daniel muttered before returning to his chair. "What happened?"

"On one of the planets the Goa'uld held, there was a rebellion," she began nervously. It was a painful subject. "Incited by a Tok'ra. I was tortured brutally for crimes I did not commit. The Tok'ra felt pity on me and removed the symbiote. I escaped."

It was an interesting story. "You don't believe me," she said sadly.

"No, I believe that," Daniel corrected her. He really did- it would explain a lot. "But you don't really have your own planet, do you?"

She shook her head ruefully. "No."

"You were going to sell it for money, drugs, slaves, whatever it is you want, weren't you?"

"Do you want the honest answer or the nice answer?"

"I'll take that as a yes," Daniel said. He had a very mixed opinion of this woman. On one hand, she was a cheat and a liar. On the other hand, she had been through a lot.

Suddenly, alarms began to sound. "Battle stations, battle stations, all hands to battle stations. Battle stations, battle stations, assume Condition One."

Daniel stood up and headed for the door. "I have to go. If you want something, you can ask the guard. You're being monitored, for better or for worse."

Just before he was through the door, Vala piped up. "Daniel, my employers are powerful and influential. When they find out that I failed, they'll send someone else. They want this ship, and they want it bad."

* * *

"Sensors, report," Caldwell ordered.

"Three contacts inbound, one big one and two smaller ones. ETA thirty-seven seconds."

"Helm, get us between our captured ships and the inbound contacts. Weps, ready all weapons including the main gun but do not open fire."

Caldwell watched as a Ha'tak and two Al'kesh dropped out of hyperspace in front of them. Were they Goa'uld, or were these more mercenaries? The _Athena_ rapidly closed the distance, attempting to get between the new arrivals and the captured ships. "Hail them," the commander ordered.

"Unidentified vessels, this is Colonel Steven Caldwell, commander of the Earth ship _Athena_. Please state your intentions."

"This is Commander Millic of the Lucian Alliance. Stand down immediately and prepare to be boarded."

"Sir, contacts are charging weapons," the sensor officer reported.

Colonel Caldwell gestured across his throat and the communications link was severed. "Fire a warning shot across their bow."

"Main gun, solid ordinance, ten percent power," his XO advised the weapons officer. In the aft end of the ship, just forward of the reactors, a decently sized and quite heavy tungsten slug was rammed into the breech of the mass accelerator. Throughout the ship, power was diverted and capacitors were charged up. In the blink of an eye, pulsating electromagnetic fields propelled the slug down the length of the ship. Seconds after the order was given, the projectile slammed into the shields on the Ha'tak.

"Minor internal damage," Sensors reported. "Their shields have been drained by several percent... they are opening fire!"

Bolts of plasma exploded from the Ha'tak and her escorts, slamming into the _Athena_'s Asgard-designed shields. They held fast, but the barrage would slowly drain the ship's shields. "Return fire, all batteries," Caldwell ordered.

* * *

_Captured Al'kesh_

"Incoming!" Captain Anne Teldy ordered as the rings activated. Seven men, all carrying some kind of firearm, appeared. She shouldered her SCAR-H rifle and opened up, tearing through one of the unarmored men. It was a close-in fight, and she briefly wished she had an M91 instead of the long rifle. There wasn't a lot of cover, either. She crouched, still exposed but at least less of a target and gunned down another man.

Beside her, Dr. Porter nervously cocked her SMG and fired toward the enemy group. She winced as several bullets fired from the Lucian Alliance men slammed into her shields. There were only seven men to begin with, however, and the combined fire from the four-member team quickly tore them apart.

"That the best they can do?" her second in command, Sergeant "Dusty" Mehra asked.

"There'll be more of them," Teldy replied, slamming a new magazine into her rifle. "_Athena_, this is Captain Teldy, what are our orders?"

"Hold ship," _Athena_'s executive officer ordered. "The enemy will not be around much longer."

"Right," Dusty muttered to herself. "Let's just hope this doesn't end up a knife fight like on P4R-556."

* * *

_AES Athena_

Daniel Jackson arrived on the bridge amidst a flurry of activity. All the stations were manned, and orders were being tossed around. Major Sidorova was up and about, Caldwell in his usual spot. The displays were alive with various readouts and the holographic tactical display showed two more contacts rapidly approaching. Daniel noted that there were death gliders swarming around, the small Lucian ships were gone and the Ha'tak was listed as "heavily damaged".

"Did you find out anything useful from our guest?" Caldwell asked as the ship rocked from another hit.

"Not a lot, other than that her employers really want this ship," Jackson replied.

"Yeah well, they can't have it," the commander replied. The forward viewscreen provided a good view of the battle. The large railguns on the top deck fired intermittently, but the smaller ones spewed brilliant streams of glowing tracers. The high-energy lasers were actually quite unimpressive. Since the lasers were infrared, the spot projected on the target wasn't even that bright. The effects, however, were, Daniel watched as a death glider simply exploded mid-flight.

"Lucian Ha'tak has lost shields," Sensors reported. "ETA on contacts is one minute fifteen seconds."

"Hold fire on the Ha'tak, we might be able to take it intact." Caldwell ordered. "Load nuclear ordinance into the main gun and make missile tubes one through twelve ready in all respects."

Daniel watched from behind the commander as the two new contacts dropped out of hyperspace. Both were Ha'tak vessels that dropped out extremely close to the Athena. They opened fire immediately, impacts rocking the _Athena_. The alarms were not a good sign, but at least they had routed the power conduits under the bridge instead of through it on the _Athena_.

"Open fire, six missiles each!" Caldwell ordered. "Helm, bring us about and line up the main gun."

Twelve missiles streaked from the vertical tubes, all heavy nuclear ordinance. The Ha'tak vessel did not have a lot in the way of point defence, and nine of the missiles hit home. The massive nuclear explosions tore away the shields of the vessels and even impacted the _Athena_'s shields. Though she wasn't as manoeuvrable as the Goa'uld opponents, the Earth vessel managed to line up her main gun with one of the stricken Ha'tak. The nuclear ordinance detonated on contact with the hull, tearing away a good sized section of the hull.

"Finish it off with the heavy railguns," Caldwell ordered. "Exec, give me a report."

"Ammunition stores at sixty-seven percent," the Major called. "Shields at forty-one percent, main gun is cycling. Minor hull damage and shock damage, no hull breaches."

"Sir, the other Ha'tak is beginning a rapid acceleration," Sensors interrupted. "Heading straight for us!"

"Hard to port, full military thrust!" Caldwell ordered. "Sound collision alarm!"

Daniel grabbed on to the handrail around the holographic display. In the CIC, everyone grabbed on to something or sat down and strapped in. Seemingly in slow motion, the large Goa'uld-designed vessel lumbered toward the starboard side of the _Athena_, matching their manoeuvres. All manner of weapons tore at the hull to no avail. Seconds after it had begun the acceleration, the vessel slammed into the slower and less nimble _Athena_.

Despite his best efforts, Daniel was thrown to the floor. He got up, slowly and painfully. Others had also been thrown to the ground or against consoles. One of the monitors was smashed and the emergency lighting had kicked in.

"REPORT!" Caldwell hollered over the flurry of activity.

"Starboard reactor is offline, port reactor scrammed automatically!" the CIC engineering station reported. "Severe damage to starboard reactor, support systems and engines. Crossbar and hyperdrive status unknown. Hull breaches on decks four through eleven, engineering area. Sporadic fires have reported. Shields and sensors at minimal capacity, communications undamaged. We are running on auxiliary naquadah generators, sir."

"Weapons?" Caldwell asked.

"Several starboard turrets have been taken out, main gun inoperative," the weapons officer reported. "Missiles are online and targeting systems are mostly functional."

"Casualty report?" the commander asked next.

"Twenty or so injured, eleven more unaccounted for and presumed dead," Major Sidorova said, one arm dangling uselessly at her side, broken.

"Damn it to hell!" Caldwell nearly shouted. "Sensors, what's the status of the other two vessels?"

"Dead in the water, sir, but with several lifesigns on board."

"Recall our teams and prepare to board the enemy vessel."

* * *

_Lucian Alliance Ha'tak_

Captain Teldy's team appeared in the ring room of the first Ha'tak in a flash of bright light. They trained their weapons around the room, but it was empty.

"Damn, do we really have to vent the coolant and knock out the crew?" Dusty asked. The air was so bad that her suit had automatically switched to its internal air supply. The coolant used in Ha'tak vessels was toxic and could be easily vented into the environmental systems, knocking out the crew. It would cause the engines to overheat and dump radiation into the surrounding compartments. Also, it would be totally useless if the enemy had decent NBC gear. Still, it was fast and relatively easy.

"Yes, Sergeant, we do. Move out," Teldy ordered. There was one Lucian Alliance man in the corridor outside. He saw them and shouted in surprise. Before he could even get his weapon up, however, she had put a burst into the man's chest.

"Go," she ordered, moving at a half-crouch through the hazy corridor. She stopped in front of a door and tried to open it using the control panel. No dice. "Porter, get this thing open."

She tore open the panel, her gloved fingers nimbly manipulating the crystals inside. "Done," she said as the door opened and air began rushing out.

"Well, that explains why it was closed," Dusty muttered as they went through. There was a gaping hole in the side of the corridor, open to vacuum. "Nobody fall out."

It was eerily quiet. Each of them could hear the sounds of their own body, and the nearly silent environmental systems of their armor seemed deafeningly loud. The open section wasn't that long, however, and they passed quickly through it.

"Well, I'm glad that's over," Sergeant Mehra said as the door shut behind them. One of the Lucian Alliance men, clad in all black, rounded the corner behind them. He opened fire with an automatic weapon. Dusty spun around as the bullets slammed into her shields, swinging her rifle butt right into the man's face. His nose exploded in a bloody cloud, and he fell to the ground. The man tried to get back up, but Dusty held him down with her boot, putting a good portion of her five-hundred pound total weight on the man. She coldly aimed her rifle at his head and pulled the trigger, blowing his brains out at point blank.

"Environmental control is that way," Captain Teldy motioned with her helmeted head. "Let's go."

They jogged down another one of the gaudy gold corridors. This one was even worse than the first, the atmosphere more smoke than air. Exposed wiring shot sparks across one wall, and a badly burnt body lay next to several open panels.

"In here," Alison Porter said, approaching the door to the environmental control room. This one opened easily. Several consoles lined the room, but there was nobody to be seen. Teldy nodded at her, and she plugged in her tablet computer and began tapping on it. Almost as soon as she had started, an alarm went off and white vapour began pouring from the vents.

* * *

_AES Athena_

"Away teams report both vessels secure, sir," the executive officer reported. "However, they also report that one of the vessels is heavily damaged and not easily salvageable."

"And the other?"

"Damaged, but capable of spaceflight with fast repair."

"Damn," Caldwell said. "Beam the crew to the badly damaged vessel. We'll take the other one. Status on our hyperdrive?"

"Port side reactor has been restarted, hyperdrive is operational at partial capacity. Starboard reactor is irreparable without a drydock."

"So, where do we go from here?" Daniel asked.

"We take the ships we can and return to Earth for repairs," Caldwell replied. "There's no way we're going to Atlantis with one reactor and possibly a damaged crossbar and hyperdrive."

It took several hours to get the Ha'tak and smaller vessels to a hyperspace-capable state. A skeleton crew was put on each vessel, and they soon left the stellar battlefield behind. Daniel took the time to talk to Vala. He was surprised by how much she opened up after their first icy conversation.

They sat together in the mess hall as the ship dropped out of hyperspace over Earth.

"So why did you get in to a life of crime, anyway?" Daniel asked.

"At first, I just did it because I had to to survive. After a while, I lied, cheated and stole because it was normal to me. Your people, what are they going to do with me?"

"Probably lock you up in a prison somewhere," Daniel replied sadly. "Look, I believe that you're a genuinely good person underneath everything. But you did try to steal a starship, and you are a criminal under our laws."

Vala sighed sadly, and looked out the window. "It's a beautiful homeworld you have, Daniel," she said. "Of course, it could still be a horrible world on the surface."

"In some ways it is, but we're working on it," Daniel replied. "Look, when the time comes, I'll be there for you."

"Really?" Vala asked. "Do you mean that in a-"

"No!" Daniel exclaimed.

"Sorry," Vala said, then shifted in her seat to get a better view of the blue marble that would be her new home- well, her new prison, anyway.

* * *

Not really happy with the ending, either, but I couldn't figure out how to end it. Yet another reason why I plan to abandon the episodic format for Season Two- if there is a Season Two. Also, if you're wondering what the Athena looks like, then you should be reading the SpaceBattles version, which includes pictures and a writeup.


	19. S1E14 The Defiant One

One more episode to Enemies Domestic. FUCK YEAH WOSHIP!

* * *

_Puddle Jumper, Lantea System_

"Are we there yet?" Rodney McKay asked.

"No," Major Sheppard replied. They had been cooped up in the jumper for almost fifteen hours. The expedition had located a satellite in orbit around a planet on the other side of the solar system. In addition to McKay and Sheppard, two scientists and a security team, ATL-17, were aboard the craft.

"We would be there if I was flying," McKay said, sullen.

"Quit your whining. If you want to fly, learn to fly straight," Sheppard shot back. "Hey, uh, Doctor Gall, something wrong?"

Gall was the scientist who had discovered the satellite. "Yeah, just motion sickness."

"That's impossible," McKay insisted. "You shouldn't feel anything through two layers of inertial dampers."

"I know we're moving, that's enough for me," he said defensively.

"That's-" Sheppard stopped mid-sentence as a massive space station came into view. It was dark grey, vaguely star-shaped, and clearly ancient in more than one sense of the word. "...not a satellite. It's a full-blown space station."

"It's as large as a Goa'uld mothership!" Dr. Abrams remarked.

"This might be the single largest weapons platform ever constructed," Lieutenant Chadad, leader of SG-17 added.

"Totally dead, though," Abrams said. "No energy readings at all."

Lieutenant Chadad stepped into the front compartment to take a look. "Could it have been knocked out in the Ancients' last post?" she asked.

"Last stand," Sheppard corrected. "It does look like their last line of defence before Atlantis."

"Need I remind you that it's been sitting there for thousands of years?" Rodney said. "It might have simply ran out of power."

"Yeah, well, it's worth checking out. Can we dock with it?" Sheppard asked. A diagram of the station, showing landing points, appeared on the HUD. "I'll take that as a yes."

As Sheppard took the jumper closer in to the jagged structure, Rodney interrupted him. "Wait. I'm picking up something. Ultra-low frequency. Pulsating at a regular frequency, this is definitely not natural."

"Where's it coming from?" Sheppard asked. A map of the planet below appeared.

"The planet," Gall stated.

"It's a distress call," McKay determined. "A Wraith distress call."

"Are you completely sure?" Sheppard asked.

"There's always a margin of error, but yeah, it looks pretty solid," the scientist replied. "Is that a ship down there?"

"Seems to be," Sheppard remarked. "I should probably contact Doctor Weir about this."

McKay tapped his console. "Channel open."

"Thanks, Uhura," Sheppard quipped, confusing several of the people in the jumper. "Atlantis, this is Sheppard." Rodney stared evilly at the back of his head.

"Weir here." Her voice came crystal-clear through the subspace signal. "Status report?"

"We've reached the satellite, but discovered something else," Sheppard replied.

"A Wraith signal distress signal," McKay explained. "Seems to be coming from a ship that's crashed on the planet."

"And the satellite?" Weir asked.

"This thing is amazing," McKay began. "I mean, it is a-"

"Big honking space gun," Sheppard finished. "But unfortunately for us, it's dead. The scientists are still eager to check it out, though."

"The ship, you're sure it's Wraith?"

"Positive. We think it was shot down by the satellite," Abrams said.

"And it's still putting out a signal after thousands of years?" Weir asked.

"It's a very weak signal," Rodney added.

"You want to land and check it out, don't you?" Weir guessed.

"You know me," Sheppard replied. "I'll stay with the eggheads on the station, just in case. Lieutenant Chadad and her team are better equipped to deal with the Wraith ship."

"I don't know, John," Weir said. "It sounds dangerous, and if something goes wrong, help is fifteen hours away."

"Look, if any part of that ship is still intact, the wealth of scientific and military knowledge we could acquire is beyond valuable," McKay argued.

There was a pause as Weir stopped to think. "Lieutenant, are you and your team comfortable with this?"

"Of course, ma'am," she replied. "We are willing to take the risk.

"Very well," Weir conceded. "You have my go, but proceed with extreme caution."

* * *

_Lantea II_

Lieutenant Shira Chadad was the first out of the jumper. She was a tall, slim Israeli forged in the fire of IDF service. Her piercing brown eyes and light hair were visible through the clear visor of her helmet. The AESF had standard loadouts, but they were often modified. In Chadad's case, this meant a long-barreled version of the SCAR-H with a 4x ACOG sight. In addition, she carried an M91S and machete for close-in work. She allowed her squad to have a symbol of personal meaning on their uniform, and a small Star of David adorned the left pauldron of her Aegis IIL armor.

The next person out was Sergeant Tony Giordano. Italian-American, Big Tony was over six feet tall and packed a ton of muscle. He was their machine gunner, carrying a standard M240G and its associated ammunition and equipment in addition to a non-standard .44 Magnum revolver. An ace of spades was tucked into his LBV.

Dr. Lim Gil-dong was a small man from South Korea, the team's scientist. He carried a lighter load of weapons of equipment, having only an M91 for defence. He was a man of few words, seemingly nervous around other people. He was, however, a brilliant scientist if his file was to be believed. A Hangul inscription that was unreadable to the others adorned his arm.

Corporal Jane Harris was the youngest and least experienced member of the team. She was picked straight out of training and transferred from the Australian Army into the AESF. It was a little known fact that the AESF was less selective with female recruits. This was due to the desire to have a 50/50 mix of genders and the much smaller pool of possible candidates, especially from gender-restricted militaries. Though she was inexperienced, Harris was by no means incompetent. Lieutenant Chadad considered her intelligent, tough and a quick learner. Corporal Harris carried a standard loadout except for the underbarrel grenade launcher on her SCAR-H rifle. She always kept an old medal dating back to WWII near her heart.

"Damn it," Sheppard called. "Looks like the atmosphere on this planet can interfere with our communications."

"How bad?" Chadad asked immediately.

Sheppard repeated the question to Dr. McKay. "It's going to severely reduce range and quality on the surface," the scientist explained. "Still, you should be able to communicate within a reasonable line of sight. But you probably won't be able to get anything through the atmosphere."

"So we'd be cut off?" the Lieutenant asked.

"Yes," McKay said simply.

"Should we scrub the mission?" she asked. "Or do we go anyway?"

"We'll come back within three hours, how does that sound?" Sheppard asked. "I'm not going to force you to go for it."

Lieutenant Chadad took a moment to consider it. "Okay."

"All right, see you in three hours," Sheppard replied as the jumper door shut. The spacecraft lifted off, leaving ATL-17 alone on the planet.

"It's a bloody desert," Harris commented. "Windy, too."

"How can you tell?" Big Tony asked.

"See that bush over there? It's moving."

"Yeah well, if there's a bush it isn't really a desert, is it?"

"Lifesigns," Dr. Lim interrupted. "Looks like insects, everywhere, not concentrated."

"Not Wraith?" Chadad asked, concerned.

"No, not Wraith," the scientist assured her. Almost on cue, a glowing yellow bug flew in front of them, curious about the intruders. It made a few passes, then settled in the middle of the group.

"We can observe insects later," Shira said curtly. "Move out, we have a Wraith ship to find."

* * *

_Ancient Defence Satellite_

"Are you still sure it was a good idea to leave them down there?" Rodney McKay asked as they docked with the satellite.

"The Wraith ship crashed thousands of years ago. There's probably nothing dangerous left," Sheppard replied dismissively. "Alright, helmets on, I'm opening the rear hatch."

Rodney fumbled with his helmet, pulling it down over his head and securing it in place. Half a minute later, the rear door opened and the air rushed out of the jumper. "Just because something is old doesn't mean it's safe, Major. In fact, quite the opposite."

"Lieutenant Chadad is a good commander and she has a good team. I'm sure they'll be just fine." Sheppard shouldered his M91 and lead the team out of the ship. The entrance was an airlock, but the artificial gravity and life support were long dead. "You might want to activate your magnetic boots."

"Yeah well, just because they're good doesn't mean they're invincible." McKay toyed with the door mechanism. "Damn, why won't this thing open?"

"Actually, they are pretty close to invincible," Sheppard said, tapping his helmet.

"Not really. There are a million things that could-"

"Look, Rodney, just calm down. It's only three hours, they're going to be just fine. Have fun with your new toy."

* * *

_Lantea II_

"Well, it's not a hive ship," Tony remarked. "Too small for that."

They had reached the Wraith ship in record time, and yet were not even winded. The ship was covered in dust and debris. It was clearly damaged and worn from decay. The ship was large, but smaller than a hive ship. The blue-purple color and smooth, organic lines clearly identified it as Wraith.

"Any lifesigns?" Lieutenant Chadad asked.

"No," Lim said. "But Wraith could be hibernating."

"You're right," the Israeli replied. She slung her rifle back and drew her silenced submachine gun. "Move in, slow and careful."

A trail of skeletons led to the ship. "Well, that's not good," Jane noted as they passed. Yellowy, cocoon like sheets covered the entrance to the ship. They were already ripped, and the team crouched to enter the cool, dark interior of the ship.

"Flashlights," Chadad ordered.

"Not night vision?" Corporal Harris asked.

"Not night vision," Chadad confirmed. "You tell me why."

"Uh, because this is an exploratory mission," Harris answered nervously. "The threat level is low, and we can see things better this way."

"Correct," the Lieutenant said. "Picking up some faint energy readings. Lim?"

The Korean scientist ignored the Israeli woman's butchering of his name. "Probably powering the distress beacon."

They progressed slowly through the creepy corridors of the ship. The walls were covered in a cocoon-like fabric and various remains littered the floors. A Wraith corpse caught Corporal Harris' eye.

"Ma'am," she called, motioning to the dead Wraith.

"Hold up," Chadad ordered. "What is it, Corporal?"

She pointed. "Looks like he just laid down and died."

"Unless something killed him," the Lieutenant said cynically. "Alright, since you found him, you get to take samples."

"I'm honored, ma'am," Jane said sarcastically. Taking samples from a dead alien was never pleasant, but at least she had breathing filters and gloves. She first cut off the webbing with her knife, then unceremoniously hacked chunks of flesh off and packed them into plastic bags. After finishing the grisly task, she realized something.

"What the hell?" Harris exclaimed. "This Wraith has been fed on!"

"Hmm," Chadad muttered. "Wraith cannibalism. Have anything interesting on him?"

"Yeah, actually," Corporal Harris said. She passed her commander two egg-shaped objects and two that were more like curved, tapered sticks. "Grenades and magazines, maybe?"

"Would make sense," Tony said, holding up what looked like a rifle. It was somewhat curvy and organic, but much less so than other Wraith weapons. It had a clearly defined stock, handgrip, and trigger. What appeared to be a large exposed bolt adorned the middle of the weapon. Tony passed the weapon to Lieutenant Chadad.

The Israeli woman pointed the weapon away from them and squeezed the trigger. A yellow bolt of energy streaked from the muzzle, impacting the wall. More followed as she held down the trigger. After a few shots, the bolt locked open and the weapon ceased firing. When the smoke cleared, a sizeable chunk of wall had been blown out.

"Pretty impressive," Tony commented.

"Yes. I wonder why they stopped using them," Chadad mused. "Still, the dead Wraith is somewhat disturbing."

"Looks like they fed off each other," Harris shrugged. "Maybe one or more was able to survive."

"Think there could still be one out there?" Sergeant Giordano asked.

"If there is, he'll come to us," the Lieutenant said, unfazed. "We need to move on."

Unfortunately, they soon ran into something even more frightening. The claustrophobic corridors gave way to a massive room filled to the brim with pods containing humans in stasis. "Damn," Tony muttered.

"They have chambers like these on hive ships," Shira said. "But not this large. I think we just figured out what this ship is for."

"A supply ship," the Sergeant finished. "Or the twisted Wraith version of it, anyway."

"Corporal, stay here with Lim," Lieutenant Chadad ordered. "This ship's gotta have a bridge. Maybe we can find something useful. Stay in radio contact."

* * *

_Ancient Defence Satellite_

"I'm just thinking out loud here," Sheppard said, floating upside down in mid-vacuum. The other scientists had left to check out some other part of the satellite, leaving him with only McKay to talk to. "We know the Wraith can keep humans in hibernation."

"Yes," McKay replied, agitated at the distraction, "What's your point?"

"And we know they keep a lot of them around on their hive-ships," Sheppard added.

"Uh-huh, so what?"

"How long do you think a Wraith or two could feed on all those humans?"

"You're thinking about the crashed ship, aren't you?"

Sheppard nodded. "Yep."

"Well, they're capable of hibernating for hundreds of years at a time," the scientist explained. "But think about it. Ten thousand years ago is roughly the dawn of human civilization."

"So there's no chance that-"

"No no no no, are you kidding?" He paused. "Maybe."

"McKay," Sheppard warned.

"No," the scientist said after a pause. "No living thing could survive that long under those conditions. It's ridiculous! I mean, it would require an incredible power source capable of sustaining the stored humans in suspended animation almost the entire time."

"So it's possible?"

"Oh my god, it is possible!"

* * *

_Lantea II_

"So, uh, Lim, what are you doing, anyway? Still alive over there?" Corporal Harris asked. It was incredibly boring. The ship was old and scary, but dead as a doornail, and the scientist was running some tests or other. To make it worse, interference from the atmosphere and shielding in the ship garbled radio communications, precluding a normal conversation.

"Science," Dr. Lim replied. "Doing science. Am still alive."

"Funny," Harris replied. She stopped pacing and leaned against one of the cobweb-covered walls. "You don't talk much, do you?"

"No."

The soldier released the magazine from her rifle and flipped it in the air. "You never told us what you did before the Atlantis Expedition." There was a brief blip on her motion tracker and an acoustic spike. She popped the magazine back into her rifle. "Lieutenant, is that you?" Corporal Harris called, moving out of the room, weapon at the ready and shields shimmering into existence. "Doctor, will you be alright if I go check it out?"

"Yes, go," the scientist replied. "Is safe?"

"Probably nothing," Harris shrugged. As she entered the hallway, a dark figure dropped down behind her. Not noticing the intruder, she continued into the hallway, slowly and cautiously. The repeated discharge of an energy weapon and a blood-curdling scream sent her running back. She briefly saw the figure hop onto the ceiling, into the shadows. Aiming where her suit's computers said the mysterious invader was, she opened fire, holding down the trigger. There was a low grunt and a few drops of blood hit the floor before her rifle locked open.

Corporal Harris ran over to the scientist. Chunks of armor, mostly in the chest area, had been completely burned away. The melted fabric below was holed in a hand pattern. The man was dead, though she couldn't tell if it was because of the feeding or from being shot several times. Harris suppressed the urge to vomit. There was an enemy out there. She looked away and took a moment to compose herself.

"Lieutenant Chadad," she said over the comm. "Dr. Lim is dead. It looks like a Wraith, ma'am."

"I did not hear that clearly, say again," the Lieutenant's voice crackled.

"A Wraith shot Dr. Lim with some type of energy weapon, then fed on him," Harris repeated. "Punched through his armor- he's dead."

There was some garbled swearing. "Make your way to the bridge," Lieutenant Chadad ordered. "We will meet halfway."

"Yes, ma'am!" Despite the interference, their battlenet was at least partially working. She had a partial map to follow and a readout of the Lieutenant's position.

* * *

_Ancient Defence Satellite_

"You said it's possible that there's a Wraith down there?" Sheppard asked, restarting the conversation.

"Hmm? Oh yes, it's possible considering what we've seen. The ship is pretty big and could be carrying a lot of humans in stasis and Wraith are very resilient," McKay replied, still examining whatever it was he was examining.

"Right, but how probable is it?" Sheppard asked. McKay didn't answer. "McKay?"

The man held up his hand. "Hold on, I'm thinking."

Moments later, he answered. "Not very likely, it's a hostile environment and if one survived, other probably did too. Which means they would have fought for food."

"Well, if one or two survived, they probably won't pose much of a threat anyway," Sheppard added. "Our people can outgun, outrun and outsurvive any Wraith."

"I wouldn't go that far," McKay cautioned, "But ATL-17 would hold the advantage over a couple of Wraith."

"Can we contact them and make sure they're okay?" Sheppard requested.

McKay shook his head. "I'm afraid not, Major. We don't have anything that could penetrate the atmospheric interference, and even if we did they have nothing to answer back with."

"So, if they were really in trouble-"

"They would have no way to contact us, yes. It's only been an hour, they're probably fine."

"McKay!"

"I said probably!" the scientist squealed. "Look, if it makes you happy, go fly down and check up on them. We're not going anywhere."

"That's a little extreme," Sheppard paused. "You said they had no way to contact us."

"Yes, I did," McKay replied, a little irritated.

"What about the distress beacon?"

"Well, yes, it could be modified to send out a different signal, but why would they think of that?"

"If we can think of it, so can ATL-17. They're a pretty resourceful bunch."

"I suppose."

"I'm going back to the jumper," Sheppard said, pushing off the wall. "To keep an eye on that signal."

"Suit yourself," McKay replied. He went back to taking readings from the dead control console.

* * *

_Lantea II_

Corporal Harris found herself staring into the business end of a SCAR-H as soon as she rounded the corner. The owner quickly lowered it. "This is not good," Lieutenant Chadad began.

"Do ya think?" Sergeant Giordano said. "A Wraith is bad. A sneaky Wraith with weapons that can cut through our armor is real bad."

"Corporal, what did you see?"

Jane forced herself to recall the horrifying images. "I thought I saw something, so I left to take a look. There were a few gunshots- not our weapons- then a scream. I ran back in, but I only got a glimpse of him. I shot where my suit told me to shoot, and I think I hit him. But he's gone."

Lieutenant Chadad swore in Hebrew. She took a brief look at the logs recorded by Harris' suit, which confirmed her story. "Are you okay, Corporal."

"Yeah, I'm fine," Harris replied weakly.

"What are our options?" Shira asked.

"Get the hell out of here," Tony said immediately. "Wait for Sheppard to come pick us up."

"Or we could fortify our position," the Corporal suggested. "Wait for him to come to us."

"Or we could hunt him down," Lieutenant Chadad mentioned. "Still, I think the best course of action would be to leave. Either we're safe and we wait for pickup, or he comes out and we ambush him."

"If we hunt him on his turf, he has the advantage," Big Tony agreed. "Lead the way, Lieutenant."

The trio thundered down the deserted corridors of the Wraith vessel, the sound of their metallic boots pounding against the flooring echoing eerily around them. Suddenly, just past the halfway point, Lieutenant Chadad held up her fist. A blinking dot on her HUD signalled the presence of their enemy. She dove to the side as blue energy bolts lanced toward them.

"Return fire!" she shouted, raising her M91S and firing at the source of the enemy fire. The other two followed suit, hosing the corridor with bullets. Seeing that the Wraith used the shadows, Shira switched to infra-red. Sure enough, the Wraith had retreated. "Hold fire!"

Shira glanced at her HUD. The dot slowly merged with their position and crossed over. "Behind us!" she shouted as the Wraith opened fire at their exposed backs. The initial shots from both sides went wide, but they refined their aim. The Israeli grimaced as one of the powerful blasts slammed into her shields, severely weakening them.

A total of four hit Big Tony, dropping his shields and tearing through the armor covering his left shin. He screamed in pain as the energy burned his flesh, unleashing fully-automatic fury from his M240. The Wraith was long gone, but he had been hit, leaving a trail of blood in his wake.

"Tony's hit!" Corporal Harris shouted, kneeling by the man's side. He groaned in pain, holding his bleeding leg. Harris was not a medic, but she had some training. She pushed Tony's hands out of the way, revealing a mess of destroyed armor and burned human flesh. One of the problems with the Aegis armor was that there was no way to get to a wound quickly- however in this case the weapon had burnt away enough armor to alleviate the issue. It was bleeding a lot, and Harris immediately noticed something about the wound. It wasn't just an energy weapon; there was a projectile in there too. She forced back a bout of nausea. There were other, better times for it.

Lieutenant Chadad came over, extracting her emergency medical kit. "Corporal, stand guard, I'll take care of him," she said to Harris, who nodded and stood up, clutching her rifle tightly. Depolarizing her visor, the Lieutenant looked into Tony's eyes. "Stay with me, Tony. You're going to be just fine." Contrary to popular belief, removing the bullet from a wound was about the last thing one wanted to do. That applied to normal human bullets. Shira decided that it did not apply to alien bullets from another planet. Holding Tony's leg with one hand, she probed for the projectile with a gloved finger, earning a stream of weak grunts from Tony. That was bad.

"Come on, don't die on me," Shira pulled a pair of hemostats from her kit, grabbing onto the projectile and yanking it out in one smooth motion. It was smooth and silver, but she didn't stop to examine it. She tossed the blood-covered forceps to the floor, and grabbed a disinfectant pad, cleaning the wound with it. It and her gloves were soaked in seconds. She dug for coagulant, and found none. Who the hell put together these kits? She slapped a gauze pad onto the wound and pressed it down, blood oozing between her fingers. Shira held the gauze in place with one hand and searched her kit for a bandage with the other. She grabbed the bandage, wrapping it tight around Tony's leg. A low moan came from the man. He moaned in pain again as the Lieutenant tightened the bandage. "Autoinjector."

"What?" Lieutenant Chadad asked, pressing down hard on the Sergeant's wound.

"There's an autoinjector in the kit, give it to the Sergeant," Harris explained. Her superior immediately grabbed the device and pressed it to Big Tony's leg. He relaxed slightly as a cocktail of painkillers, stimulants, and antibiotics entered his system.

"Feel better?" Chadad asked. The Sergeant nodded. "We have to get out of here. Can you walk?"

Experimentally, Sergeant Giordano attempted to stand, using his commanding officer for support. As soon as he put weight on his bad leg, pain shot through his body and he nearly collapsed, held up by Chadad's augmented strength. "Nope," he said weakly.

"Corporal Harris, do you think you can carry him?" Chadad asked.

Harris thought about it for a moment. Unaugmented, there was no way she could carry a 250-pound man with another hundred pounds of equipment, while carrying the same amount of equipment herself. It was one of the main reasons women were barred from infantry combat in many countries. However, with her strength boosted by her Aegis suit, it was a different story. "Sure, but drop the gun and the pack."

"You release the straps," Chadad ordered. The younger woman unclipped the machine gun and backpack from Tony's armor and awkwardly shifted him onto her shoulders in a classic fireman's carry. He was heavy, but not unbearably so.

"Let's hope he doesn't come back," Chadad said. "Move out."

It only took ten more minutes to escape the crashed ship, but it seemed like an eternity. Tony was heavy and Harris was exhausted by the time they exited the ship. He was in great pain and drifted in and out of consciousness. Finally, they made it to a sandy hill overlooking the fallen starship.

Corporal Harris set Tony down as gently as her aching body would allow. The bandage on his leg was completely soaked in blood. "How long until Major Sheppard gets here, ma'am?" Harris asked.

"Two more hours," Chadad said. "I know what you are thinking. Tony will not make it that long."

"Have any ideas, ma'am?"

"Distress... beacon," Tony muttered.

"What was that?" Chadad asked.

"Use... the... distress beacon," the man forced out before falling unconcious again.

"Is that possible?" the Lieutenant asked. She worked on replacing the bandage on Tony's leg.

"Maybe, ma'am," Harris said. "You're going to need Doctor Lim's tablet, though. He could do it-"

"But he's dead. It can't be that hard to figure out, can it?" Lieutenant Chadad finished changing the bandage, shaking some of the blood off her hands. She unclipped her rifle and held it out. "Trade me your rifle."

Corporal Harris did so. "You don't plan to go in there alone, do you?"

"I don't have much of a choice," Chadad snapped. "If I'm not back within an hour... well, you'll know what happened. And if anything comes out of that ship-"

"Shoot it. Yes, ma'am," Harris replied, but her superior was already halfway back to the ship. "Good luck, Lieutenant!" she called.

Lieutenant Chadad decided to go a different way, hopefully throwing her opponent off. She got to Lim's dead body unopposed, grabbing his tablet quickly and moving out. There was a blip on her motion tracker, and she dove to the side as energy bolts wrecked the floor where she was seconds before.

"You can't win!" she called, firing back at the source of the incoming fire. "You're the last of your race. We've won, and we're the only way off this planet."

The Wraith was clearly angered. "Your insolence will only make you all the more pleasing to feed on!" He exposed himself, and Chadad immediately emptied another magazine into the Wraith's chest. This one was tough. Real tough. He staggered, then charged at the Lieutenant.

Chadad dropper her shoulder and matched his charge. She heard something break in the collision that sent them both sprawling to the floor. But she was up first. Popping a new magazine into her rifle, she didn't hesitate to dump another twenty rounds into the downed alien. "Not so tough, are you now?"

She savagely kicked the Wraith. No response. Satisfied that the Wraith was dead, she took his weapon and ran off toward the distress beacon.

Shira Chadad mentally kicked herself. Of course the distress beacon wouldn't be a simple device with an on-off button. Like most other Wraith technology, it was organic. The "beacon" was a small device in the middle of the room, attached via what looked more like tentacles than wires. She didn't even know where to start.

Shira experimentally tore out a tentacle-wire, unleashing a spray of nasty purple liquid. Device still glowing. She ripped out a few more, impressed by how difficult they were to tear out. Finally, the device stopped glowing and went dead. Her gloves were covered in some kind of slime, which was also on the floor and all over her suit. It didn't seem to be corrosive, though. Making the thing send a message would be a lot harder. She might have to settle for breaking it.

* * *

_Ancient Defence Satellite_

Sheppard had almost fallen asleep in the jumper when something startled him back to full alertness. The distress signal had stopped with little warning. "McKay," he called. "The distress beacon just stopped transmitting."

"Well, maybe it finally ran out of power," the scientist replied, entering the jumper. He looked over the readouts. "Nope, energy readings haven't changed."

"Maybe it just broke." Sheppard shrugged.

"I should get back to work. I'm sure Lieutenant Chadad's team will be able to tell us what happened."

"All right, I'm going to try to get some sleep again."

* * *

_Lantea II_

Shira bashed her fist against the console. She had only managed to break the transmitter, and would probably never get it working again. Would Sheppard come with help, or would they assume it just broke on its own?

The Lieutenant was too preoccupied to notice the dark figure sneaking up behind her. The Wraith was quick but quiet, and drew his knife. The noise was sufficient to startle the human slightly, and instead of plunging into soft fabric armor, the knife crashed against a hard trinium plate. She whipped around with one of the Wraith rifles in each hand. The Wraith had enough time to scream in anger before the all-too-familiar energy bolts ripped through his nearly-useless armor and shredded his internal organs.

Wraith are capable of rapid regeneration, but do feel pain and do have limits. This one knew that he would die if he did not feed immediately, and the woman would not let him. Resigned to his fate, he reached for one of the egg-shaped Wraith grenades and was able to activate it before the woman realized what he was doing and put another round through his skull.

Lieutenant Chadad dashed out of the room, aware that the Wraith device was probably some type of booby-trap or explosive. She got as far as the hall before it went off, starting a chain reaction with a few energy conduits and the distress transmitter. The explosion blew out part of the hull, completely obliterated her shields and slammed her hard against a bulkhead.

* * *

_Ancient Defence Satellite_

"Damn, what the hell was that?" Sheppard yelled.

"An explosion, and a fairly big one at that," McKay explained, dashing back into the front of the jumper.

"I know that, what caused it?" Sheppard asked.

"I don't know, probably that incompetent Lim guy messing around with stuff," McKay guessed.

"Well, we're checking it out. That team could be in trouble," Sheppard said. "Gall, Abrams, report back to the jumper ASAP."

* * *

_Lantea II_

Shira stumbled out of the Wraith ship in shock. The explosion had swamped her inertial dampeners, and she was pretty sure it had broke something. Pain shot through her body, and her HUD constantly reminded her that half of her suit's functions were broken. A cylindrical shape flew overhead, and she forced herself to wave at it, even though pain shot through her shoulder as she did so. The jumper was coming in to land, and she shambled toward it. Amazingly, she still had one of the Wraith rifles, and it was still intact enough to use as a crutch.

Corporal Harris had already made it to the jumper, carrying Tony in her arms. The shortish woman carrying the big man would have been an ironically funny role reversal if it weren't for the circumstances.

"What the hell happened?" Sheppard asked.

"There was a Wraith still aboard," Harris reported. "Attacked us. Killed Doctor Lim and injured the Sergeant."

"And Lieutenant Chadad?"

"The explosion. I hope she took the Wraith down with her," Harris said sadly. "Tony's in bad shape."

McKay, despite being the wrong kind of doctor, moved in to help the Corporal with the injured man.

"Right," Sheppard said, his normally bright voice dark and emotionless. "I'll get going now." He closed the rear door and was about to take off when something caught his eye.

Lieutenant Chadad broke into a painful run when she saw the jumper. Sheppard waited for her to arrive before popping open the hatch.

"Lieutenant!" Corporal Harris shouted. "I can't believe you made it, ma'am."

She waved her off. "Go," she said to Sheppard, who needed no bidding. She turned to Tony, who was now hooked up to an IV, but looking even worse than before. Shira squeezed his hand. "You will not die on me, Sergeant Giordano, that is an order! Do you understand me?" It hurt to say that. One or several of her ribs were probably broken.

"Yes, ma'am," he replied weakly.

* * *

I tried to be creative a bit, but I don't think it turned out very well. The next episode will be (mostly) original, so it'll either turn out terrible or quite good.


	20. S1E15 Enemies Domestic

After a serious case of writers block and some help from the guys on Spacebattles, SGD 1x15 Enemies Domestic is finally here. I'm probably going to cut this season down a bit so I can finish by the beginning of summer.

* * *

_Secret Trust Headquarters_

The room was small, grey and not very well lit. In the centre sat a decent, but not exceptionally expensive, wooden table. Six people; four men and two women, sat around it. Together they constituted the leadership of the most powerful underground organization on Earth.

"All elements are in place," on of the two women, slim with blond hair and a round face, reported. "The only remaining task is to vote on the issue, then it can be put into action."

"And you say this will give us control of the American government?" a man asked, stroking his dark facial hair.

"To be frank, I'm more concerned about monetary gains," a bald man said. "You say this will give us access to the stargate and by extension offworld markets?"

"With the resulting tensions between the western world and the east, Mr. Scott will be able to declare a state of emergency and do whatever we tell him to. I am obviously in favour. Who's with me?"

"Offworld markets with no restrictions?" the bald man said. "A lot of people will pay a lot for our technology. I'm in."

"Control of the United States will work towards our long-term goals," another man said. "I am in favour."

"I liked Earth better before the AESF. Had some real freedom back then. Let the good times roll, I'm all for it."

"This alliance is ruining the black market and the white market. I say we open them up again."

"If things keep going the way they are, we're going to lose this war. The current leadership is incompetent. That has to change."

"It's decided, then," the blond woman said. "It begins tomorrow."

* * *

_Stargate Command_

"I can't believe we drew guard duty again," Sergeant Lewis complained, pacing around in front of the guard shack. His helmet was off and a pipe was in his mouth, glowing in the dark of the night. Sergeant Lewis was part of the British Special Air Service until a few months prior. He had years of experience and was among the elite when it came to military officers.

"I never knew SG teams were used as guards," Amanda Somers said. She was a reporter attached to SG-114, who had been assigned to guard the east gate of AESF Cheyenne Mountain. After several months of operations, she had become more soldier than reporter, even cutting her hair short to fit better inside her helmet.

"There's a serious personnel shortage," Captain Roberts explained. She was both slim and short by military standards, just over five feet tall. Her former commander described her as dedicated, skilled, a good leader but nowhere near strong enough to be a soldier. She had been snapped up by the AESF soon after. "Soldiers are expensive, politicians are cheap, and there hasn't been a significant crisis since the AESF was formed."

"We're an elite combat team!" Lewis nearly shouted. "Not bloody rent-a-constables!"

"Rent-a-cops," Martha Brown corrected. The second non-military member of the team, Martha was a former police officer and Cal Tech dropout. She almost made it onto a SWAT team but was passed over because she was African-American. A subsequent attempt at hacking into the central computers of the NYPD got her noticed by both the FBI and the AESF. "The way you said it just sounds fucking stupid."

"You never use civilian forces to guard a secure installation," Master Corporal Gal Chazan shook his head. An Israeli, he had been drafted into the IDF like every other man and woman. After that, he was recruited by the Israeli special forces. Details of that were sketchy, but he had been picked up by the AESF during their initial recruitment drive.

"Couldn't they use military guards?" Amanda asked.

"We are the military guards, Somers."

Amanda was about to say something when she noticed a movement in the distance. It registered on their motion trackers as well. "You see that?"

"Yeah." Captain Roberts activated the zoom function built into her suit. It was very unnatural, but convenient and effective. "Looks like a man, hobbling straight toward us." There were a few flashes behind him, illuminating two armed men. "Oh, shit. Guys with guns."

"Could be a distraction, an attempt to enter the base," Lewis said.

Captain Roberts nodded. "Lewis, stay here with Chazan and Brown and call for backup, just in case you're right. Somers, you and I can handle this." With her SCAR-H rifle in hand, she dashed toward the running man, Somers close behind.

The two armed men shifted their aim to the rapidly approaching AESF soldiers and opened fire at a distance of twenty or so metres. Roberts dropped to one knee as the bullets impacted her chest and left shoulder, the hollowpoints crumbling against her hard armour. Aiming through the smartlinked red dot sight, she unleashed triple bursts toward the flashes. As soon as she had cracked them off, she was back up and running. Somers had done much the same, although with a bit more difficulty.

They arrived to find the two men dead. They were clothed in black, silenced Heckler and Koch submachine guns at their sides. The third man who was stumbling away from them dropped to his knees and slowly raised his hands. "Don't shoot!" he said weakly, clearly injured.

"Who are you?" Captain Roberts asked, training her weapon on the man. It was starting to rain, and would turn into a downpour soon if the weatherman's predictions were right. "What is your name?"

"I need to speak to General O'Neill, it is very important," the man said, forcing out every word.

"Nobody gets on or off base without proper authorization. I need to see some ID, and I need a name."

The man did not answer, however. He slumped to the ground, lying in a pool of his own blood. His lifesign slowly faded away, then disappeared entirely.

"Damn, this is not good."

* * *

"You said what just happened outside the gate?" General O'Neill asked, staring down Sergeant Walter Harriman.

"An unidentified man showed up outside, demanding to see you. He was pursued by two armed attackers, who were killed by SG-114. He didn't say much before he died."

"All right, do we have a forensics unit on base?" He answered his own question. "No, no we don't. All right, give the bodies to Doc Fraiser for autopsy and give me a list of all cops and ex-cops on base."

"Sir, it's technically not our jurisdiction."

"Don't worry about jurisdiction. I can take care of that problem."

"Yes, sir."

As Walter left his office, O'Neill added one more thing. "And get SG-1 in here!"

All three member of SG-1 were on base at the time, working on one thing or another. Colonel Carter was the first one in, and O'Neill couldn't help but notice the red stains on the sleeves of her grey uniform. Teal'c came in next, dripping with sweat. The next person in was not Daniel, but Walter, who dropped off Captain Roberts' preliminary report.

"Alright, where's Daniel?" O'Neill asked.

"He is undoubtedly executing time," Teal'c guessed.

"Killing time, Teal'c," the General corrected. They waited another five minutes before Daniel Jackson finally showed up.

"We were about to start without you," O'Neill told Daniel. "About an hour ago, a man attempted to enter the SGC-"

"You called us here because some crazy tried to sneak on base?" Daniel asked.

"Would you let me finish? This man was being chased by two other guys with guns. There's been a lot of Trust activity in the area since those changes Hayes made, and I was a bit paranoid. And apparently he asked for me specifically." A few weeks prior, Hayes had personally ended Operation Spearhead after growing concerns about arms falling into the wrong hands. The Lucian Alliance, among others, had been demanding larger and more powerful weapons. The cessation of arms delivery had likely prompted the attempted hijack of the _Athena_. "So, Carter, did you find anything?"

"There was a USB drive in the man's... it was on him. It's mostly encrypted, but what we have deciphered so far reveals that the man was part of the Trust and part of something big. Dr. Fraiser has some objections but is autopsying the body, and some of the R&D guys are working on the evidence. We don't have any investigative staff, sir."

"I know. Does this guy have a name, or should we give him one?"

Carter shrugged. "His ID identifies him as Michael Price, but it could be an alias."

"Well, considering my own experience comes down to what I've seen on CSI, maybe we should find someone who knows what they're doing."

"With all due respect, sir, the murder is already solved. What we're looking at is a potential conspiracy, and we've dealt with those before." Carter was thinking of the incident in Steveston, but there were others.

"I'm thinking we try to find out more about this guy," Daniel suggested. "Maybe we should check out his house. Are we allowed to do that?"

"Usually, no," O'Neill replied. "But in this case, yes."

"We need to go as soon as possible," Carter said. "If his residence hasn't been cleaned out yet, it will be soon."

* * *

_Michael Price's Residence_

Beaming down from a satellite network in orbit wearing full armour and carrying battle rifles would be considered overkill by most people. Yet that is how SG-1 arrived in Price's house.

Four surprised men in dark clothing immediately turned around, drawing their weapons. Only one was able to get a shot off before being cut down, and his bullets bounced harmlessly off of Daniel's shields.

"That's not good." Carter knelt down to inspect one of the bodies. They had ID, but it was probably fake. "Looks like they came to clean this place up. Daniel, Teal'c, take a look around. I'm going to try the computer."

The computer was a recent model, which booted up on her command. It was password locked, of course. Sam could crack it, but it would take time. Better to do it at home. She shut off the computer and tore the side panel off the computer, bending the metal tabs supposed to hold it on. The hard drive was held in with a screwless mechanism, so she disconnected it and popped it out.

Michael Price's house was fairly large, and far too nice for someone with a regular day job. The place was immaculate, with everything well organized. Colonel Carter was alone in the master bedroom, and started searching when she was done with the computer. There was an ensuite, which contained the usual assortment of toiletries. A handgun and a few rounds of ammo were hidden in a wooden box under some clothes, but that didn't make Price a crook. Lots of people carried guns for protection. Carter was starting to search under the bed when she realized something. There was a gas can on the floor, and the floor and walls were wet.

The fire started in the basement, but quickly spread upwards and before she knew it, Sam was surrounded by flames. One flaw in the Aegis suit was that it left the wearer unable to smell anything, in this case the gas spread all over the inside of the house.

Fortunately, the Aegis armour did provide protection against fire. The integrated cooling systems kept Sam from roasting and there was an independent oxygen supply which engaged automatically. Her visor even polarized to reduce the amount of light and infrared radiation hitting her eyes. "Daniel, Teal'c, I think we need to get the hell out of here!" she shouted over the radio. Now was not the time to panic. She was safe for the moment. But it would probably be a good idea to leave.

"Roger that, we're already outside," Daniel reported. "Where are you?"

Colonel Carter dashed through the flames into the hallway, which was totally on fire, gasoline having been splashed on the floor. Her boot crashed through the weakened floor, and she scrambled up, fire charring her gloves, forearm plates and boots. There was an exit in the kitchen, and it wasn't far. Sam pushed a burning dining table out of the way, heading straight for the door.

Then she noticed there was another lifesign. She ran back into the hallway and tore open the closet door, revealing an unconscious woman. Sam picked her up and ran back toward the exit.

"I need a beamout right now!" Carter shouted.

"We're working on it, the fire's interfering with our sensors," Walter's voice replied.

"It's a damn fire! Oh, forget it!" Carter ran for the entrance, carrying the unconscious woman with her.

Just prior to reaching the front door, the ceiling collapsed and a burning rafter slammed down on her back. She was knocked to the floor, and the unconscious woman's clothing caught fire. Sam pushed off the burning chunk of wood and picked up the unconscious woman. She tried opening the door, but it didn't budge. Taking a step back, she slammed her shoulder into the door, smashing a hole in it and careening through.

Carter shoved the other woman down as the fire exploded outwards, the newly admitted oxygen causing a backdraft. Behind her, the building collapsed onto itself, raining down fiery debris. Seconds later, they disappeared in a flash of light.

* * *

_Stargate Command_

"What the hell happened?" General O'Neill asked as they appeared back in the briefing room. The three members of SG-1 were covered in soot and the ACU pattern was charred and burnt. Carter was the worst, with her boots, hands and forearms blackened. With them was an unconscious woman, her clothing badly burned. "Who's this lady?"

"We found her in the fire," Carter reported. She laid the woman on the table and unceremoniously tore her shirt and bra off. The woman was not in good shape, with burns all over her body. "She's not breathing. Get a med team!"

Part of the standard first aid kit issued to AESF personnel is the bag valve mask, designed to provide air to a patient not breathing. Sam pulled hers out, only to find it melted. Daniel's was not, and he applied it to the injured woman. This left the Colonel free to perform CPR. Meanwhile, O'Neill grabbed the phone and called in a med team.

A minute later later, a team of medics including Dr. Fraiser appeared with a stretcher. She examined the patient. "Multiple burns, no pulse and no breathing. Get her on to the stretcher. On three..." Sam and Daniel hefted her onto the stretcher, leaving the diminutive doctor to her work.

"So, let me repeat myself," General O'Neill said as the medical team left. "What the hell happened?"

"We beamed down and there were four Trust goons waiting for us," Carter reported. She slumped down in a chair, adrenaline draining from her system. "We took them out, then took a look around."

"Then the house caught fire?"

"Indeed," Teal'c said. "It is likely that the Trust did not want us examining the residence."

"Were you able to get anything before the place caught fire? Other than the woman, of course."

Carter tossed what looked like a chunk of metal on the table. "I pulled the hard drive from Michael's computer, but I don't know if anything it recoverable. I found a gun, but that's hardly unusual."

"Daniel?"

"Nothing. This guy was as clean as clean can be."

"Teal'c?"

"There was nothing unusual in the slightest."

"So we've got a woman who may or may not know something and may not survive the hour, a flash drive that we can't look at, and something big going on."

"Basically, sir," Carter agreed.

"Keep me posted," the General said, leaving the room.

* * *

Alice Sanders woke up in a strange room. As the world came into focus, she realized that it was a hospital... or infirmary. The grey paint and concrete construction signified it as military, with the IV drip and small uncomfortable bed identifying it as something medical. The last thing she remembered was letting herself get the crap beaten out of her.

"You're very lucky to be alive," a very short- or was it her eyes?- doctor said, shining a light in her eyes. "A year ago and you would have been a goner. How do you feel?"

Alice took a moment to think about it. Her body was somewhat numb and ached a bit, but didn't feel too bad. She was disoriented, and very, very thirsty. "Thirsty," she managed to squeak out.

The doctor held out a cup of water so she could sip through the straw. Alice greedily sucked it up and felt a little better. "I feel disoriented- what happened?" she managed.

"The disorientation is a side effect of the Asgard technology we used to save your life. It should pass in a few hours. As for what happened, SG-1 found you in a closet in a burning building. Sam- Colonel Carter- saved your life."

"So I'm in the SGC," Alice asked.

"That's right," the doctor said. "They want to-"

Janet was interrupted by SG-1 entering the room. They had changed back into grey AESF duty uniforms, and she couldn't help but notice the lack of stains on Sam's. "Is she healed enough to talk to us?" Carter asked.

"Physically, she's in pretty good shape," Doctor Fraiser replied. "We started up her heart again, then ran her through one of the medical pods. She's disoriented, though, so be aware of that."

"You're SG-1!" Alice exclaimed. She had brown hair and eyes the same colour. "I never thought I would meet you."

"That's right," Carter replied, sitting down on the adjacent bed. Daniel sat beside her, Teal'c grabbed a stool. "What's your name?"

"Alice Sanders, average nobody," she answered. "What happened?"

"We found you unconscious, shoved in a closet in Michael Price's house," Carter explained. "I pulled you out shortly before the house collapsed."

"Thank you," Alice said. "Really, there's no way I can-"

Carter held up a hand. "It's okay. What's the last thing you remember?"

A tear rolled down Alice's cheek. "Michael beating the living shit out of me. Oh god, Michael! Is he-"

"I'm sorry," Daniel said. "Yes, he's dead. But if it makes you feel better, he led us to you."

Alice sobbed, and Sam laid a comforting hand to her shoulder. "I know this is hard for you, but we need you to answer the best you can so we can bring Michael's killers to justice."

"Yes, of course," Alice said, wiping her tears on her sleeve. "What happened to him? Did he die in the fire?"

"He did not," Teal'c explained. "Michael Price arrived at the SGC last night. He was killed by two armed men. We retrieved a data storage device from his body, but the contents are unreadable."

"They got him, didn't they," Alice sobbed. Mentally, she kicked herself for the mistake. She added quickly, "The gangs. I think it was a gang- Michael was into some bad stuff. He was a good person, but..." She trailed off, crying.

"You say he was into gangs?" Daniel asked. "Did he tell you that?"

"No, but he would sometimes come home drunk, or filthy, and he often took his gun to work with him," she managed between tears. "Can I make a phone call? Please?"

The members of SG-1 looked at each other. It couldn't hurt, and would probably make her feel better. Maybe they would even get some more information out of it. Carter grabbed the wall phone and punched a few numbers in. "Just dial the number right in and it'll go through. Would you prefer to do this privately?"

"Yes, I would. Thank you again," Alice said. She smiled inside as they left. A lot of tears and a bit of stupid goes a long way.

"Hello? This is Edna. The heart of the beast is not on the inside but the outside."

"Acknowledged," a neutral voice replied. "The slayer may fall but the serpent will rise."

The phone clicked off.

* * *

Colonel Carter played the recording back again for O'Neill to hear, the control interface displayed on a holographic projector in the middle of the table. "But the serpent will rise," O'Neill echoed. "I don't like the sound of that. Sounds like some sort of code. A snakey, slimey code."

"It is a mistranslation of a section of a Jaffa legend," Teal'c explained. "It is a story of betrayal and redemption, involving a young Jaffa taking over from his corrupt master. Only recently has the story been told in public."

"I can see why," Daniel noted cynically.

"So Alice isn't really Michael's dumb girlfriend," O'Neill concluded.

"She must be part of the same operation," Carter added. "Michael Price probably had a conscience attack, beat up his partner, stole some information and ran to us."

"Only he didn't get here in time," Daniel finished. "How's the progress on the data?"

"Well, we still haven't got much, but I fed the words Alice used into the decryption matrix."

"Found his password?" O'Neill asked.

"No, sir, we fed them into the decryption matrix, which used the words in various values and permutations as hashes or-"

"Carter!" O'Neill interrupted. "What did you find?"

"A lot of garbage and what I think is a set of coordinates."

"Let's see it," O'Neill ordered.

Carter brought up a map. "It's a warehouse in New York. They're using active jammers to disrupt our scans. We should be able to beam in, but probably not out."

"Bad guys and warehouses," Jack mused. "You guys need a break. I'll send in another team."

"Sir-"

"That's an order, Carter. Believe it or not, there are other teams just as combat capable on this base. Get some sleep."

* * *

_Warehouse - New York_

SG-114 appeared in a flash of light. The warehouse was dark, so they switched to infra-red vision. Six people were tied together in the wide-open middle of the room, surrounded by various machinery and shipping containers.

"Scramblers are screwing with our suit sensors," Martha reported. "And external communications."

"This is an obvious trap," Captain Roberts said. "We go in to save those people and they have a wide open field of fire. We try to leave, they hit us from above."

"So what do we do?" Somers asked.

"We go in deep, and we go in hard," Roberts replied. "Toss in some flashbangs and smoke, then shoot back at anything that shoots at us."

"That's not a plan, that's bloody suicide," Sergeant Lewis objected.

"Correction, Sergeant, it would have been suicide a year ago. Now, it's another day at the office."

They tossed out flashbangs, followed by smoke grenades. After a horrendously bright flash, the lights came on, but illuminated only clouds of smoke. The enemy was above them, and fired randomly into the clouds.

Unworried about taking a stray bullet here or there, Captain Roberts and her team charged into the middle of the warehouse. They fired from the hip in the general direction the fire was coming from, occasionally being rewarded with a few screams.

Somers slid in beside one of the hostages, hacking the ropes away with her knife. She shielded the man with her body. She had learned that as crazy as it sounded, a few bullets would not kill her. Still, the weapons being employed were heavier than usual, and the machine gun fire was rapidly draining her shields. Once the man was free, she grabbed him and dashed back into the relative safety of the crate labyrinth.

"Reform on me and shoot to kill," Roberts ordered. With their advanced sensors offline, they had to rely on cruder methods. She swung her rifle upwards and started shooting out the lights. The rest of her team followed suit, and within seconds the warehouse was pitch black again. The Trust opposition had lost their night vision and didn't have any electronic systems. The AESF soldiers could see them clearly. The Trust agents weren't stupid, and they began retreating.

"They're leaving," Lewis pointed out. He brought up his short SCAR-H rifle and fired into one of the retreating figures. The bullets impacted his legs, smashing the bones to pieces.

"Let 'em go, we'll take it from here," a male voice said over the battlenet. Outside, more AESF troops had beamed in, ready to mop up the mess.

Amusingly, one man ran right in front of Amanda. Without a second thought, she stuck out her leg, sending the man sprawling. His nose smashed into the bare concrete, sending out a spray of blood. The scary part, Amanda thought, was that she thought the move was a good one.

"Good job," Captain Roberts complemented. "Mission accomplished. Sergeant Lewis, Corporal Chazan, escort our guests out of here. The rest of you, look around and see if you find anything."

"Hmm," Martha remarked, holding up a small circular object. She bagged it, then moved on to a laptop sitting on the floor.

"Uh, Captain," Somers said, holding up a beeping green object. "Is this what I think it is?"

Brown took one look at it confirmed that it was indeed a bomb. "Put it down, very slowly. Captain, we need to get out of here."

"Roger that," Captain Roberts ordered, "Everyone, out now. Make sure the hostages are secure. Go, go!"

The remaining three members of SG-114 dashed out the door at full speed. "Get down, there's a bomb!" Roberts yelled. A moment later, she remembered who she worked for. "Command, we need beamout ASAP."

"Happy to oblige," someone said over the radio, and all three SG teams, along with the ex-hostages, disappeared. Moments later, a colossal explosion levelled the whole block, spewing debris into the air and shattering every window in a five hundred metre radius.

* * *

_Stargate Command_

Alice Sanders sat alone in the briefing room. In it was a metal table and a second cheap chair. The mirror was two-way, and a security camera gave away the fact that she was being watched. A large man, African or African-American, appeared inside and closed the door.

"You made a phone call," he said flatly.

"So? What's wrong with that?" Alice said defiantly. Teal'c stared at her.

"Think she'll crack?" O'Neill asked, entering the observation room.

"I don't know, sir," Carter replied. "But that's not the worrying part."

"Alright, fine," Alice replied. "I was talking to my boyfriend."

"You used a phrase mistranslated from a Jaffa legend," Teal'c countered.

In the observation room, Carter showed her commanding officer a small, round device. "Recognize this, sir?"

"Yeah, isn't that one of those mimicky things? I thought they were all in Area 51?" the General asked.

"That doesn't mean anything! I read it on the internet, we enjoy that sort of thing," Alice shot back as Teal'c stared her down.

"One of them disappeared," Carter replied. "From what we can tell, the Trust was trying to replicate the devices. And they might have succeeded. Sir, with the ability to build these devices-"

"They could take over the world," O'Neill finished.

"All right, fine," Alice admitted. "I'm not just an innocent nobody."

"You are an agent of the Trust," Teal'c spat. "You made the phone call to inform your superiors of your position."

"That's where you're wrong- well, sort of." Alice fidgeted in her seat. "I'm a CIA agent, deep undercover in the Trust. Michael was my partner. When he had a conscience attack, I tried to stop him. He beat me up, threw me in the closet and left."

"Checking," Carter said, entering the CIA database. "Unless the Trust managed to hack into the third most secure database on the planet, she's legit."

"Could they have changed it?" O'Neill asked.

"There's always a possibility, but as far as I can tell, they didn't," Carter explained.

"Why would you not join him?" Teal'c asked.

"You don't cut an operation short because someone goes crazy. It was an unforeseen incident. I went along and played my part."

"You allowed an innocent man to die!"

Alice bolted up. "Five years ago the SGC was taken over by aliens! If the Trust succeeds, it could happen again, except to the whole world."

"The captured Trust agents haven't said anything yet, not even to Zarah," Daniel breathed, entering the room. "But I talked to the hostages and they're all Secret Service agents."

"And you didn't think this important enough to tell us earlier?" Jack asked.

"I didn't find out until five minutes ago," Daniel protested.

"All right, fine," the General conceded. "What were they doing there?"

"Well apparently they were part of the President's protection detail. When off-duty, they were kidnapped and put through some kind of device, possibly a scanner."

Teal'c leaned forward. "If you wish to stop it from occurring, you must inform us of the intentions of the Trust."

"It was pretty sketchy," Alice replied. "My assignment was just to steal a working mimic device so the technology could be reverse-engineered. I never learned anything about the actual operation, they said it was safer that way. Michael may have known, but if he did, the knowledge died with him."

"Copied mimic devices and Secret Service agents," Sam mused. "Didn't the President have a trip scheduled? Oh, man, this is not good."

O'Neill cursed under his breath, then quickly grabbed a nearby phone.

"Was the intent of the operation to assassinate the President of the United States?" Teal'c asked Alice, straight up.

"Like I said, I don't know. It's certainly possible." She paused. "Wait, Michael mentioned something about dividing and conquering. I don't know what they meant by that. Maybe they planned to kill a foreign national and make it look like we did it."

"The President dies, they install a puppet who declares a state of emergency," Carter theorized. "They blame it on the Russians, Chinese or maybe a small rogue state. The AESF breaks up and the stargate falls into their hands..."

"And I lose my job," O'Neill finished. "The President's plane left for Europe two hours ago. Teal'c, we're done with her."

"Thank you for your time, Alice Sanders," Teal'c said, standing up to leave the room.

"Wait. I want to help stop this," Alice insisted. "I volunteered for this operation and I want to see it through."

"A CIA agent working with us? No way," O'Neill dismissed. "Those guys are almost as slimy as the Goa'uld."

"Wait, Jack. She was inside the Trust," Daniel protested. "She knows how they operate, how they think. Alice knows a lot more than we do."

"I agree with Daniel," Sam said. "I think Ms. Sanders could be useful. And if they really are going to kill the President-"

"It's not just our problem anymore," O'Neill finished. "Well, at least we can blame her if we fuck up. Teal'c, that's a yes. Let her out."

"We are glad to have you on our ship," Teal'c said to Sanders. Jack planted his face firmly in his palm.

* * *

_Air Force One_

"Thank you," President Henry Hayes said to the attendant, taking a glass of champagne from her. "How far out are we?"

"Three hours thirteen minutes from Moscow, Mister President," she replied, turning to leave. Before she was halfway out of the luxurious compartment the door came crashing open and two armed Secret Service agents appeared.

"What's going on?" the President asked. "Is there an emergency?"

"_Po'shol von!_" one of the agents said to the attendant. Then in English: "Get out!"

"What are you doing?" Hayes asked, very confused. He could hear shouting outside as the attendant scampered away. _Why did he say that in Russian?_

The agent sat down, leaving the other one standing. He tapped his wrist, revealing a man that looked nothing like the Secret Service agent there only a moment before. "Listen very carefully, Mister President," the man said with a Russian accent. "You are going to get on, how you say? Yuri, how you say?"

"Address," the other man said, also shedding his disguise. He was a tall man with a beard, wearing camo fatigues and a tactical vest.

"Yes, you will address, and tell people that Russia get stargate back. Make that order, relinquish stargate. And, and, what is it?"

"_Prosto dajte emu prokljatuju zapisku_," Yuri said. _Just give him the damn note._

The other man pulled a slip of paper from his pocket and passed it to Hayes. "Read and do."

"Go fuck yourself," the President spat. The man got up and whipped him with the pistol, blood splattering from his broken nose.

"Let us try again," he said.

* * *

_Stargate Command_

"Sir," Walter said, entering the briefing room. He handed out several folders as he talked. "A group of Russians just took control of Air Force One."

"Russian agents or Russian terrorists?" O'Neill asked.

"Unknown, sir. It just happened about ten minutes ago. Their proclamation is loaded up and ready to go."

"Thank you," O'Neill said, dismissing Walter. Carter brought up the interface on the holographic projector and started the video.

"For too long, Russia has sit in shadow of the west," a man wearing a balaclava and camo fatigues said, a bloody-faced President clearly visible in the background. "For too long the world has been dominated by United States of America!"

"Terrorists," O'Neill concluded. "Definitely terrorists. Too boasty to be agents."

"The United States will relinquish the stargate immediately," the man motioned to the President with his gun. "Or face the consequences!"

"They can't seriously think we're going to go for that, do they?" Daniel said. "I mean, these guys are a joke!"

"They don't have to," Alice explained. "We don't agree, they pop the President and it makes the Russians look bad. Maybe even enough to get one of their own into the position."

"And with a puppet leader in place, they can do whatever they want," Carter finished. "Dissolve the AESF, fire all of us, and use offworld technology to turn the United States into a supreme-"

"And supremely corrupt," O'Neill interjected.

Carter nodded. "-power. The Vice President will be aboard Air Force Two shortly-"

"Oh, that's a great idea!" O'Neill interrupted again. "Sorry, Carter. Continue."

"And the Delta Force is being mobilized, but there's no way they'll get there in time," Carter explained, flipping through the folder. "The Russians have promised full cooperation, which means Spetznaz will be waiting for them on the ground."

Alice shook her head. "None of it will do any good. The President will be dead long before he reaches Moscow. Which is in-"

"Just over three hours," Daniel said. "I guess we have that long to think of a plan."

"Right. Any ideas?" the General asked. "They're flying right under the DTCS net, right?"

"Yes, sir," Sam said. "But the VC-25Bs all have beaming jammers, so we can't beam in or out."

"I'd like to remind you all that this isn't exactly under the AESF's jurisdiction," Alice mentioned.

O'Neill shot her a death glare. "Right. Which is why we brought you here."

"Well, a properly equipped and trained commando team could take back the plane and rescue the President with minimal losses," she suggested. "But you would need to get them aboard."

"You think?" O'Neill snapped.

"Has anyone seen the movie Executive Decision?" Teal'c asked. "In it, a team of warriors was transferred from one aircraft to another while both were flying."

"I appreciate the suggestion, T, but movie logic doesn't work in real life," O'Neill dismissed. "We don't have supersonic stealth transports or a handy tunnel sitting around."

"Actually, it could work," Carter argued. "An A-3 could reach Air Force One very quickly and without being detected. It will be extremely dangerous, but I think it would even be possible to board the plane through an underside maintenance hatch."

"Does anyone have a suggestion that isn't batshit insane?" Jack asked cynically. Nobody said a word. "All right then, we're going with Teal'c's plan. How long is this going to take?"

"Not long, sir," Carter replied. "The A-3 doesn't need to be modified- all we have to do is change into combat gear and load up the craft."

O'Neill nodded. "Carter, Daniel, Teal'c, get yourselves ready. I want that A-3 off the ground within the next fifteen minutes."

"What about me, General?" Alice asked.

"You stay right here. If you're good, I'll let you watch TV," O'Neill replied humourously.

"Look, I know the Trust. I know how they think, how they act, what they're going to do. I've spent the last six months of my life inside their organization, working towards tearing it apart. And as a CIA agent, I'm even more responsible for the safety of the-"

"Are you trained for combat?" the General asked abruptly. "Better question- have you ever been in combat?"

"It's classified, and you know what that means," she replied.

"Fifteen minutes, I mean it," General O'Neill conceded. "And if you screw up this operation, I'm going to tear you and the whole CIA a new one. Literally."

* * *

_Air Force One_

Alice Sanders fidgeted in her armour. The suit she had been given was one of the adjustable-size "spare" ones, and it didn't fit very well. Worse, she had never worn any sort of powered armour before, and she didn't have time to get used to it. Colonel Carter had given her a crash course on it, and at least the gloves fit. And despite the two hundred plus pound weight and poor fit, the Aegis II suit was more comfortable than the plate carrier she once had to wear. Still, wearing an LBV over top of sci-fi dream armour seemed a bit archaic.

"Transferring flight control," the pilot announced. The computer could match the course and speed of Air Force One exactly, keeping it a precise distance away.

Even stranger was the lack of feeling when the A-3 slowed from hypersonic speeds and matched that of the VC-25B, a modified 747. "All right, showtime," Carter said, taking a deep breath. As the smallest and most agile of SG-1, it was her job to go first and open the hatch on the underside of the plane. She clipped her MP5SD onto her vest so it wouldn't flop around, then popped the hatch and climbed out.

The slipstream whistled by and threatened to toss Sam off as she inched onto the roof of the A-3. In fact, it _would_ tear her off if not for her magnetized boots, which kept her footing reasonably secure. Still, she had to be careful. Sam almost lost her balance twice before getting into position.

"Raise it up," she ordered. The A-3 inched closer to the larger jet until Carter could reach up and touch it. She took a moment to reflect on how ridiculous it was to be standing on top of a small spaceship reaching up to touch a 747 thousands of feet in the air. Then she grabbed the hatch handle, pulled it out and opened it. She grabbed the inside edge and hoisted herself up through the opening.

On the other side of the hatch was a small, cramped equipment bay. The opened hatch could be detected from the cockpit, so they would have to move as quickly as possible. Teal'c came next, climbing onto the top of the A-3 with no issue. Lying on her stomach, Carter reached down and grabbed his outstretched arms. After Teal'c was out of the way, Daniel came next, transferring in a similar way without a hitch.

Alice awkwardly clambered onto the top of the A-3. She was unused to moving in the armour, and the magnetized boots were all that kept her from falling off of the craft. Slowly, it inched upwards, and she reached toward Colonel Carter's outstretched hand.

Suddenly, a gust of wind buffeted the two craft, tearing the A-3 away from under Alice's feet. Acting on instinct, Sam reached down and grabbed her arm, arresting her fall. Despite her boosted strength, Sam struggled to lift the swinging mass into the aircraft. It didn't feel like her arm was being pulled from its socket, it just didn't want to move. Willing all her strength, Sam forced it, pulling the other woman up. Once Alice was inside, she shut the hatch.

"Thanks for saving my life... again," Alice said gratefully. She was still a little bit shaken.

"No problem," Carter replied. She unclipped her submachine gun. "The priority is to secure the President. Avoiding collateral damage and preventing other hostages from being executed are secondary concerns. Move out."

There was a small access door that led to the cargo area. They moved through the cramped compartment, squeezing between cargo pallets. There was no easy way into the passenger cabin. Carter paced around a bit before realizing that there was a pallet of baggage where she needed to be. Unfazed, she ripped the side off with her gloved hands, spilling bags and suitcases on the floor. She climbed on top and retrieved a small cylindrical device from her tactical vest. After making sure that she was in the right spot, Carter began cutting through the floor, a tiny stream of plasma shooting from the device. Moments later, a chunk of metal crashed down.

"What the hell-" a man dressed in camo fatigues and carrying an AKM rifle said, checking out the hole in the floor of the luxurious bathroom. A faint muzzle flash and a series of puffs spouted from the hole, and he fell to the ground with his chest full of hollowpoints.

Carter slung her weapon and grabbed onto the still-hot metal, climbing through the hole. Soon all four of the intruders were squeezed into the bathroom.

"Agent Sanders, can I trust you to secure the President?" Carter asked.

"I've done hostage situations before," she confirmed. "This is a bit more important but I think I can handle it."

"Good. Daniel, Teal'c, go for the other passengers. I'll head to the cockpit," Carter ordered. Daniel and Teal'c would actually accompany the CIA agent for most of the trip. "Move out."

Sam slammed the door open and they headed forward. The first compartment was seating for the various reporters and others that followed the President on trips. His staff were in the next compartment forward. Two "terrorists" guarded the passengers. One was originally disguised as a Secret Service agent, the other was a planted passenger. He had time to turn around before being cut down. The other managed to get his rifle off and fire a shot. Nine millimetre hollowpoints flayed his chest, but he held the trigger down, hitting the armoured attackers, a few passengers and the side of the aircraft. Alarms went off and oxygen masks fell as the air was pulled out of the cabin. Frenzied shouts rang out from further forward.

"Go!" Sam yelled. Now that the Trust agents knew they were aboard, they might start executing hostages. She ran forward, straight into a man with a gun. Without thinking, she bashed him in the face with the butt of her weapon, cracking his skull and the plastic stock.

The next compartment was designed to carry the President's staff. In addition to the staff, it also carried an armed Trust man watching them. He was able to fire off a burst at Sam before being cut down by the combined fire of Teal'c, Daniel, and Alice.

"Go for the President!" Carter yelled, heading up the stairs to the upper section of the plane. The door was, of course, locked, and she kicked it open, the force of her armoured boot sending the thin metal door flying. Another Trust man in camo fatigues stood there, waiting for her.

"_Stoj!_" the man yelled. Sam raised her weapon to fire, but it locked open on and empty magazine. As the AK-47 fire ripped into her shields, she charged into the man, bowling him over. A strong man, he struggled, but couldn't match Sam's enhanced strength. She smashed his face into the bulkhead. Beside them, the two original pilots lay dead on the floor.

Drawing her pistol, Samantha Carter entered the cockpit, where one man remained in front of the controls.

"Wait!" he said. "I'm the only one who knows how to fly this plane!"

"_I_ know how to fly this plane," Carter replied, knocking him out with her pistol and dragging him from the seat. His body bumped the controls, and the plane pitched to the left. Getting into the seat, Carter grabbed the yoke and corrected the bank. "Cockpit secure, what's your status?"

"The President is secure," Sanders replied. "Shaken, but thankful."

"All opposition has been eliminated," Teal'c added. "Two remain alive but are subdued."

"Good job, guys," Carter replied, relaxing a bit. "Command, we are in control of the plane. Diverting to Berlin."

* * *

_Secret Trust Headquarters_

"As you know, our plan to assassinate the President of the United States has failed," the blond-haired woman said. "This outcome was not completely unexpected."

"You fucking failed, lady!" the bald man yelled.

"That's not the only issue," the other woman said. "They captured some of our agents alive and have all of Scott's data. They could lead us right here."

"We're in the middle of a warzone!" a man with greying hair and a beard objected.

"A warzone crawling with American soldiers," the woman countered.

"In the wake of this failed operation it is necessary to take measures to protect our security," the blond woman replied, voice calm and cold as ice. "However it is doubtful that the AESF will be able to find our main base of operations. Even if they do, we have cells all over the world. This is not the end of the Trust."

"I certainly hope so, Mrs. Mayfield," the man with the dark facial hair said. "For my sake and yours."


	21. S1E16 Enemies Foreign

After a really long delay, SGD 1x16 Enemies Foreign is finally here. I'm not exactly happy with it, but I want to get Season One over and done with by the end of June. I think it's a little better than the very delayed and very rushed Prometheus Unbound, but only slightly. There are going to be a lot more SG-1 episodes than Atlantis ones, because I still have to do Reckoning and after that all the episodes are hybrids. I believe there are three left. I better get writing.

In SGD 1x16 Enemies Foreign, SG-1 must go to Iraq to destroy a Trust base and take down the criminal empire. Of course, it doesn't go as planned. This is the first chapter of SGD to break 10,000 words.

* * *

_Stargate Command_

"So," General Jack O'Neill asked as he sat down in the briefing/conference room. "What's the state of the union?"

"The Free Jaffa rebellion is growing," Teal'c stated. "Master Bra'tac assures me that the uprising will occur within the next few months."

"As you know, sir, we haven't had a major operation in months," Colonel Samantha Carter added. "There seems to be a temporary peace or at least stability in the greater galaxy."

"The calm before the storm," Daniel Jackson mused.

"It's definitely possible, yes," Sam agreed.

"Well, I guess it's business as usual then," O'Neill said. "What about our friends on Earth?"

"The usual, sir. Terrorist threats, riots and a minor attack in London," Sam informed. "Tensions with Russia have calmed down a bit, but there's still a public mistrust."

"And the Trust?" Jack asked. "That _is_ why I called this meeting, you know."

"The agents were uncooperative and most of them didn't know anything anyway," Sam explained. "However we were able to decode the contents of Price's flash drive. I don't know what he did to get it, but it's an enormous wealth of information."

"How enormous is enormous?" the General asked.

"Sir, with this information we could take down their entire organization," Carter replied. "We have names, locations, even details on their operations. We know how they've been getting offworld, too."

She tapped a panel on the table and the holographic projector sprung to life, displaying a map of the world and a spaceship. "When Earth was attacked last year, a few small craft were able to get through and slip under our radar. We assumed they had been destroyed. Evidently, that is not the case. The Trust managed to get their hands on a few of them and modify the cloaking devices to be undetectable to our sensors."

"Do we know where they're keeping them?" O'Neill asked, forcing himself to stop staring like a moron at the pretty holographic display.

Carter nodded, and manipulated the holographic controls. The globe zoomed into a section of the Middle East. "The location of the Trust headquarters is in Iraq. This could be a problem, sir."

"You think, Carter?" O'Neill erupted. "I can see it making the headlines right now- 'Space Troopers used as elite US forces against Iraqis'. No matter what we're really trying to do, the journalists will twist it however they want."

"It couldn't come at a worse time, either," Daniel added. "With tensions high between the US and Russia, it could tip the balance."

"That is a good point, sir," Carter said, a bit embarrassed. "But what I was referring to was operational limitations. The DTCS satellite network doesn't cover Iraq, and we don't know exactly where the headquarters actually are."

She tapped the hologram again, narrowing the map. "With sensors on the ground we could probably localize it better, but all we know is that the base is in this general area. It's probably an underground complex, spread under the majority of this area. It could, however, be much smaller and less elaborate."

O'Neill held up his hand. "And I was actually talking about nuking it from orbit. Does anyone have a better idea?"

"Actually, yes," Carter replied. "United States forces routinely patrol the area. We- SG-1- can disguise ourselves as standard forces, then attach to one of those units until reaching the objective."

"There are two problems with that, Carter," the General argued. "One, it's incredibly dangerous. Two, there are only three of you and the smallest unit that can be taken seriously is a squad, which is anywhere from eight to thirteen men. Three, you can't dress up as a man and expect to pass for one."

"That's three points, Jack," Daniel mentioned.

Carter produced a small grey device from her pocket. "That's the beauty of this plan, sir. We have a few of these captured from Trust agents and can easily replicate and reprogram them. We equip SG-1 and one of the five-member teams with them, allowing us to look like normal soldiers and still use our Aegis suits. With some cooperation from the Army or Marines, we can make this look real."

General O'Neill thought about it for a moment. "You think this is our best choice to strike back at the Trust?"

"Yes, sir." Carter replied, absolutely confident.

"Then it's a go. Let me know as soon as you're ready. Oh, and there's one condition, Carter."

"What would that be, sir?"

"I want to see how well this disguise thing works."

* * *

"Carter!" O'Neill called, entering the armoury. He looked around fruitlessly for the Colonel, but didn't see her anywhere. "Has anyone seen Colonel Carter?"

"Right here, sir," a man in an Army desert uniform said, with a voice to match. Blond hair, blue eyes, but clearly a he and a bit bulkier than Sam. "He" wore an Interceptor plate carrier with MOLLE vest over top of it and a backpack to match. An M4 assault rifle was cradled in "his" arms. "Convincing, isn't it?"

"I can't even tell it's you!" O'Neill confirmed. "I'm assuming you're wearing armour under that?"

"Yes, sir. Believe it or not, I'm wearing a helmet, too," Carter replied. "The head is totally fake. However, the LBV and plate carrier are real. As are the weapons, holster and backpack, of course. It's not perfect, though. There are disadvantages."

"Such as?" O'Neill asked.

"Well, sir, the holographic projection adversely interacts with the cyclonic field-"

"Carter!"

"Sorry, sir," Carter simplified her explanation. "The shields don't work when the holographic disguise is active."

"So you're vulnerable?" O'Neill assumed.

"Yes, sir, but not as vulnerable as a normal soldier. The plate armour on this suit is pretty solid. It's tested to withstand multiple .50 BMG armour-piercing hits. That's the big disadvantage. There are others, of course. Touch me."

"Carter!" O'Neill said, shocked.

"Seriously, sir, reach out and poke me."

Jack gingerly prodded Carter lightly in the shoulder. "Weird. Did that-"

"Yes, sir, your finger went straight through the holographic layer. That's going to happen with any object, including equipment and other soldiers. Of course, we're a lot heavier, too."

"Well, it's good enough, I suppose," O'Neill conceded. "Turn that thing off, you're giving me the creeps."

* * *

There were only three five-member teams in the entire SGC. SG-114 was artificially expanded by the attachment of Amanda Somers. SG-15 was on a long-term offworld mission. That left SG-76, which was an all-American, all-male team. They were once in the majority, that was no longer.

"Hurry up!" Colonel Reynolds shouted at his team as they ran through the halls. "You fat loads have been slowing down for the past month and a half!"

Sergeant Baker pushed away the strain of running and forced himself to catch up to his commander. Why the hell did Colonel Reynolds insist on such ridiculous conditioning, anyway? They had been doing this for hours!

Focusing solely on the run, the Sergeant didn't notice that the floor was shiny and wet until it was too late. His right foot slid out from under him, and he went sprawling backwards and to the left, straight into a staircase. There was a sickening crack as his arm snapped trying to arrest the fall, then he slid down the stairs head-first. The concrete wall arrested his fall, cracking his skull wide open and staining the concrete red with blood.

"Sir!" Lieutenant Morrison called, running down the stairs. "Colonel Reynolds, Sergeant Baker is down!"

Reynolds retraced his steps, running back down the corridor to his fallen teammate. He checked for a pulse and found none. "Don't bother with a med team. He's dead."

* * *

"Sir," Walter said, bringing a report to General O'Neill. "As of ten minutes ago, SG-76 is out of action. Sergeant Baker is dead."

"Damn it to hell!" O'Neill cursed, taking the folder. "A good soldier dead in a training accident. And a bunch of paperwork to top it off."

He dismissed Walter before realizing something. SG-76, wasn't that the team selected for the Iraq mission? He dug through the documents on his desk before finding the one he was looking for. "Damn it to hell!" he said again.

With Sergeant Baker dead, O'Neill still had a few options. He could simply replace him and use SG-76 anyway, but the rest of the team would be rattled and that was never a good thing. He could tack another member onto one of the other teams. It would adversely affect team dynamic like the first option, though at least the team would be reasonably fresh.

Out of the two remaining teams, SG-15 was his preference, but they were offworld on a long-term deployment with the Rebel Jaffa. Their job was just as important, and he couldn't pull them away from it. It could jeopardize the Rebellion and their relations with Earth.

That left SG-114. He never wanted a reporter in the first place, and sending her on a black operation would be absolute lunacy. Still, they were a good combat team, and Captain Roberts claimed that the reporter was as solid under fire as any soldier. Well, he could at least talk to them.

"Walter," he called. "Send Captain Roberts up to my office."

Captain Melissa Roberts showed up two minutes later. Her grey uniform was crisp and clean, and her auburn hair tied back in a ponytail."You wanted to see me, sir?" she asked, standing at attention in the doorway.

General O'Neill took his feet off the table. "Sit down, Captain. How would you feel about taking on another teammate, to make it five?"

A confused look crossed the Captain's face. "SG-114 is already a five-member team, sir."

"Yeah, well, it goes something like this. We're doing a covert op and we need a five person team. It goes without saying that I don't want a reporter in on this."

"With all due respect, sir, why my team? Why don't you tack an extra member on to one of the others?"

"Just give me an answer," O'Neill snapped.

"Permission to speak freely, sir?" Roberts asked.

"Sure, go ahead."

"I didn't like Ms. Somers at first, either. The last thing I wanted on my team was a reporter. Now I can't imagine my team without her. She's tough, smart and capable. She trains with us, fights with us, is one of us. She's not the only nonmilitary member of my team, either. And if I remember my history right, you took an archaeologist with you for years."

"That's different," O'Neill said defensively.

"Look, if you tell her to keep her mouth shut, she'll keep her mouth shut. If that's what you're worried about, it's a non-issue."

"She doesn't meet fitness standards," the General said weakly.

"Neither do I, sir."

"All right then. I want you and your team to report to briefing room two ASAP. All of your team."

* * *

"Ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to introduce you to Operation Desert Snake," Carter said as the last person sat down. "As you are aware, an attempt was recently made on the President's life. That attempt was not made by Russian extremists as is commonly believed, but by operatives of the Trust. After retaking the plane we were able to capture several operatives, as well as a large amount of encrypted data."

"I can't stress enough how important it is that this information not leave this room," she continued, staring straight at Somers. "Is that understood?"

There were a series of nods and murmurs. "Good. Using the decrypted information were were able to locate the location of the primary Trust base of operations." Carter tapped the holographic display and a globe appeared.

"Fallujah?" Captain Roberts asked. "Can't we just send in an Army or Marines unit?"

"Unfortunately, that is not an option," Carter dismissed. "No, we have to do this on our own. The reason is twofold. First, it's extremely dangerous. We may be sending soldiers to their deaths. Second, the Trust may have infiltrated our government and military."

"Okay, that's just fucking scary," Roberts said, then quickly added, "ma'am."

"Great, so we're going instead," Sergeant Lewis guessed. "Or are we just going to bomb it from orbit?"

"We're going," Carter explained. "The plan is to attach to an Army unit, disguising ourselves as reinforcements. Then we scan for the base with portable sensors and determine the exact location. When we're in position, we drop our disguises, break away from the Army unit and move in."

"With all due respect, Colonel," Captain Roberts argued. "I don't think that's going to work. Women are generally not integrated, and that alone is going to look suspicious. The average soldier typically carries over a hundred pounds of gear, which we are not used to carrying. And when we get there, it's going to be eight of us against dozens to hundreds of insurgents, plus whatever the Trust has in store for us."

"And that's what makes this plan great," Carter countered. She held up a small grey device. "We're giving the Trust a taste of their own medicine. They used these to look like Secret Service agents. We're going to use them to look like Army soldiers."

* * *

_Fallujah, Iraq_

"Well, it's not as bad as I expected," Daniel remarked, hopping off of the HMMWV. The team had taken an Air Force jet into Iraq, then borrowed a few of the large vehicles from the Army and drove to the edge of Fallujah. There was nothing but desert for miles around the city, which itself was more smoking ruin than anything. It had once been a modern city but was now reduced to ashes. The sand blew against them and the sun beat down on their backs. Thankfully, they had sealed and temperature controlled armour.

"Still glad it's you and not me," O'Neill's voice rang. Fallujah was in the ragged edge of the coverage area for the Tel Aviv geosynchronous DTCS satellite, close enough for communications but not transportation or most sensors to work. "Set the stage, you know what to do. O'Neill out."

In the back were four corpses, dressed up in Army uniforms and equipment. As Teal'c, Daniel, Roberts and Chazan pulled them out, Carter slid underneath the vehicle. A moment later, she slid out from underneath, minus a small package. Sergeant Lewis and Martha had done the same with the other vehicles. They blanketed the area with gasoline, then stepped back.

"Fire in the hole!" Carter yelled. She pulled the pin on an M14 incendiary grenade and tossed it into the lead HMMWV. Moments later, it caught fire and exploded, the small device planted underneath ripping it to shreds. The conflagration spread to the other two vehicles and they were also destroyed, leaving behind barely recognizable piles of twisted, burning metal. The four complete corpses were placed so that they would be burnt to varying degrees by the blast- one was actually pre-burnt. Incomplete bits of flesh, most from pigs, littered the insides of the vehicles. A sizable quantity of equipment was left inside, and the fake clothing the AESF team "wore" was made to look damaged and dirty.

"Let's hope they go for it," Colonel Carter breathed. She made sure the voice modifiers were enabled and she was on the right frequency. "Mayday, mayday, this is Bravo One-Five, we've encountered an India Echo Delta. All vehicles are out of commission and we have casualties. Request immediate assistance, over. Repeat, we have encountered an-"

A series of loud cracks characteristic of a Kalashnikov rifle interrupted her. Muzzle flashes were clearly visible coming from a building on the end of the street. Carter dived for cover behind one of the vehicles. "We are under fire, repeat under fire!" she shouted, making sure to sound more panicky than she really was. "Request immediate assistance!"

Sam felt a slight thump on her left shoulder as she brought up her M16 assault rifle. It felt odd in her hands, lighter and somewhat shorter than the SCAR-H, but not as much as the M91. On top was what appeared to be a Trijicon ACOG sight. In actuality, it was a smartlinked unit, providing targeting information when not aiming through it and relaying ammo and mode status of the weapon.

"Roger that Bravo One-Five, this is Foxtrot Two-One, we are oscar mike to your position. Hold on tight, we're coming for ya," Captain Miller put down the microphone. "Bailey! Take us out."

"Did they give us a position?" Private Bailey asked, starting their HMMWV.

"No." Miller got back on the radio. "Bravo One-Five, this is Foxtrot Two-One. Request a location, over."

"Foxtrot Two-One, thrity-three degrees nineteen minutes twenty nine seconds north, forty-three degrees forty-seven minutes eleven seconds east." His voice sounded a little... distorted? Miller shrugged it off.

"Who the hell has time to give GPS coordinates in the middle of battle?" Sergeant First Class Kevin Jones asked from behind.

"Apparently these guys," Miller replied. "Looks like we're going to go save their sorry asses."

"Great. Another group of idiots ran over a bomb and we have to pick up the pieces."

"Line of Humvees with a couple of heavier vehicles mixed in motoring in from the east, ma'am," Captain Roberts reported as she swapped a new magazine into her rifle. Splinters of metal from the wrecked vehicle peppered her body as machine gun fire ripped into their position.

"That's sir from now on!" Carter replied, standing and firing into the insurgent position. They were holed up in the building, and there were a lot of them. As she ripped apart a man who stood up for too long, there was a tremendous crash and the building just disintegrated. A Stryker MGS rolled out from between two buildings, followed by a vanilla Stryker and a group of Humvees. Machine gun fire, grenades and another cannon round ripped into the buildings.

"You Bravo One-Five?" Captain Miller. He hopped down from the middle vehicle, holding an M16A2 in one hand. "Damn, there isn't much left, is there?"

A somewhat smaller man with piercing blue eyes and dirty blond hair answered him. "No, there isn't. Captain Samuel Carver, aka Bravo One-Five."

Miller took his hand and noticed something odd about it that he couldn't quite place. "Captain Miller, Foxtrot Company. How much is left?"

"We've lost all our vehicles," Carver reported. "Nobody significantly injured- everyone was either lucky or dead. Just the eight of us left. Got enough seats for us?"

_No wounded?_ That seemed a bit odd to Miller. He shrugged off the feeling and took a look at his convoys. "Yeah, we can probably squeeze you in. Can you continue the mission?"

"Like I said, everyone is either fighting fit or dead."

"All right, you can ride with me. First Sergeant Jones will distribute the rest."

"I aim to please, sir," an African-American man said, stepping out of the same vehicle.

Captain Jacob Miller got another strange vibe when Carver awkwardly but effortlessly climbed into the vehicle, but again shrugged it off.

* * *

_Stargate Command_

"We're in, sir," Carter's voice crackled over the communications net. They had only conventional GPS to provide a location fix, which actually did a fairly good job. At the moment, they were heading into Fallujah.

"Suspicion?"

"Nothing voiced yet, but they're understandably antsy. How's the telemetry?"

"Walter, how's the telemetry?" O'Neill relayed.

"Not getting anything yet, sir, but the signal's fine."

"Is there a webcam chat."

"Sort of, sir." Walter's fingers flew across the keyboard. On one monitor, a feed relayed from cameras on Carter's helmet popped up. It showed the inside of a Humvee, with several Army soldiers inside. O'Neill actually thought it was slightly funny that she was the only woman in the vehicle, and the others didn't know it. Another screen acted as a preview monitor, showing the feed being sent.

"Hi, Carter!" the General said playfully.

"Hello, sir. I take it the telemetry is working?"

"Walter says so, I personally can't make heads or tails of it."

"So Carver," one of the men asked. He was clearly more a runner than a weight lifter. He had piercing brown eyes and hair to match. He had already been ID'ed as Captain Jacob Miller, US Army, and was labeled as such. "You watch football?"

"Sure," Carver/Carter replied.

"He's going to ask what your favourite team is, sure as shit," General O'Neill said. "Make it the... New York Giants." Keeping it consistent with the cover story.

"Shame they cancelled it, but you can hardly blame 'em," the man continued. "Say, what's your favourite team?"

"New York Giants." Carter changed the topic. "Where are we going?"

"Mosque," a large African-American man said. "Hopefully we'll find those sand niggers on their knees and not shooting at us."

"Sergeant First Class Kevin Jones," Carter whispered. As his face was analyzed by the computers, a search of the Army database was run. In seconds, the SGC had a face, a name, and all manner of information accessible by command and by the people in the field.

"Are we going to barge into the women's section again, sir?" the driver asked. He was young, fresh out of training. He was tagged automatically as Private Matthew Bailey. "Would be nice if we had some girls of our own."

"Forget it, Bailey," Jones growled. "It's not worth the trouble, even the brass knows that."

"But they won't even be in combat," Bailey argued. "They'll just be there so we can talk to the women here on equal terms."

"Except they will end up in combat," Jones countered. "Like it or not. And women don't belong in combat. Hell, if I had my way they wouldn't be in the Army at all."

"Easy, Carter," General O'Neill soothed. Several of Sam's lifesigns were spiking, and Jack could practically feel the woman's blood boiling. "Let it go."

"Yeah, well, you're just a chauvinist asshole," Miller quipped.

"Racist, too, you fucking cracker. Sir." Everyone laughed, except for Carter, who just took a deep breath.

"Nervous?" Miller asked. "Don't worry. I would be too if I just had my convoy ripped up."

"Damn. These guys are something else," Jack muttered. "Reminds me of a certain team."

* * *

_Fallujah, Iraq_

"Remember, Daniel," a voice buzzed in his ear, "Your cover story doesn't speak Arab. So don't go speaking Arab on me."

"All right, Jack, I'll try to remember that," Daniel replied quietly as he jumped heavily off of the HMMWV. He didn't even bother mentioning that there was no such language as Arab.

"Damn, Johnson, you're like a fucking elephant," one of the soldiers remarked, dropping much lighter behind him. The nearby civilians scattered in their presence, except for one man who gaped and stared like a hawk.

"Form up on me!" Captain Miller called. "All right, Carver, let's see how good your people are. Don't start shooting unless I start shooting. We want to keep this nonviolent if possible, but we don't know what's in there."

"I'll go in first," "Carver" volunteered. "Look around and see what's going on."

"You sure about that? You are kind of-"

"I've done this before," Carter said lamely. She couldn't reveal the real reason- that if things did go south, she could take a few rounds and he couldn't. "I don't think it'll be a problem anyway."

"All right, your ass, not mine," Miller allowed. What the hell. "Take one of my guys, at least."

"Thanks, but I'll pass. Robertson, on me." Carter motioned to "Sergeant Michael Robertson"- Captain Roberts.

The two women entered the mosque slowly and silently. Inside was mostly a wide open space. It was not prayer time, and the place was largely empty. It was dirty and there was a hole in the roof, probably made by an American bomb. Three men were on their knees praying, and their presence went unnoticed. Continuing into the mosque, they reached a medium sized double door. Carter nodded, and her companion pushed it open.

On the other side was a woman, dressed in a burqa. Behind her were several others. "No man," she said. They had entered the female prayer area.

"I need a running translation," Carter said.

"Arabic, I assume?" Command asked. "Alright, here you go."

"We're just checking the area," Sam said. Her voice was digitized, send back to the SGC via satellites, processed to break it into words, translated idiomatically into Arabic, and transmitted back. She appeared to be speaking the language, with only milliseconds of delay.

"No man, no man," the woman repeated. "No man."

"Maybe we should just push her out of the way?" Roberts suggested.

"Gun!" a male voice alerted in their ears. "Third woman on the left, not really a woman. Lifesign is clearly male, has what looks like an AK-47 under his lampshade. This could get ugly."

"Sorry," Carter pushed the Arab woman out of the way, knocking her to the ground. As she did so, the man pulled a loaded AKM from under his burqa. In an instant, Carter brought up her own weapon and put a burst through his chest.

There was a brief pause, then all hell broke loose. The three men from the main hall broke in, wielding Kalashnikov rifles. Captain Miller and four of his men bashed in through the back door. Miller watched in horror as one of the Arabs savagely unleashed an entire magazine into Carver's body. "He" was facing the wrong way, and had to spin around to shoot back- but he shouldn't have been able to. Miller didn't have time to think about it, though. He shredded another of the Arabs, firing his M4 from the hip. The other one of Carver's men- Robertson?- slammed the third man so hard that he went flying into the wall, the impact breaking the stone and smashing half the bones in his now dead body.

The women cowered on the floor, one with a puddle of liquid under her. The four dead insurgents were bleeding out, staining the stone of the building red. The stench was enormous, but Miller and his men were used to it and Carter and Roberts couldn't smell anything. Outside, gunfire crackled loudly as previously concealed groups of insurgents duked it out with the American forces. There was an enormous crash as their Stryker MGS demolished a building.

They ran outside as bullets whizzed over their heads. "They're on the other side, but some of them might be flanking!" SFC Jones shouted. He leaned against the side of one of their HMMWVs. It was the closest thing to cover they had. Bullets ripped at the vehicles, peppering the lightly armoured side panels.

"He's right," Command buzzed. "Group of five tangoes coming around through the mosque."

"I think they're going to come through the mosque!" Carter yelled. "I'll take a few of my people and deal with them."

"All right, we'll be right here!" Miller shouted back, firing around the side of the vehicle.

"Johnson, Murray, on me," Carter yelled. In a whisper, "That's you, Daniel and Teal'c."

As they ran back toward the mosque, Captain Roberts slammed open the door of the vehicle and climbed inside.

"What the hell are you doing?" Miller shouted. He was reloading his weapon.

"Using the mounted machine gun, what the hell do you think I'm doing?"

"You're fucking nuts, but okay. Your ass, not mine." He would either get a medal or end up in a body bag for that. Either way worked for Miller.

The M2HB heavy machine gun had not been stowed, which made her job easier. Melissa racked the charging handle and began firing into anything that looked like a terrorist or terrorist position. She was not oblivious to the bullets peppering her armour, and hoped that nobody would notice. The trinium and carbon composite plates absorbed the impacts, but they would still rip through eventually.

As the insurgents and Army forces tore away at each other, Sam and her group advanced into the mosque. She considered dropping the disguise and raising her shields, but decided against it. 7.62x39mm rounds wouldn't easily penetrate her armour, and one of the Army soldiers might decide to join them. She glanced at the motion tracker on her HUD.

"All right, they should be right on the other side of this door," Sam whispered, dropping to one knee and shouldering her rifle. "When they come through, rip them to pieces."

After six long, drawn-out seconds, the door crashed open, a man with a Kalashnikov rifle at the front. In an instant, he was cut down by SG-1's gunfire. The next man unloaded a burst straight into Carter. Surprised that she didn't drop, he paused and died for it. Three more men were brutally cut down, and the last one panicked and dropped his weapon, raising his hands in surrender. Urine and fecal liquid dripped from his pants.

"Looks like you made yourself a new friend," Command quipped. "He's a POW, you have to take him with you."

"Right," Carter replied. "Teal'c, grab him."

The big Jaffa nodded and grabbed the man, almost literally dragging him out. Outside, the gunfire was subsiding, with a clear victory for the US forces. On the other side of the street, three buildings were utterly obliterated, the others torn up by automatic weapons and grenades. Two Humvees were totalled, and none of them were undamaged. Bodies lie slumped in the street. Only some of them belonged to the opposition.

Captain Roberts climbed down from the top of the Humvee. Although nobody could see it, her armour was dotted with bullet impacts, the hard plates chipped and scratched. Not for the first time, she felt a bit of guilt and a lot of anger. Protected by barely armoured vests, several of the American soldiers had been killed or badly wounded. Some of them had been hit in their unprotected limbs, and could lose them. Field medics skittered about, but they could only do so much. "Damn," she muttered.

"How many did we lose?" Carter/Carver asked Miller.

Captain Miller wiped his blood-soaked hands on his trousers. "Four dead, twenty wounded and some of those critical. Medivac is on its way. Fuck me sideways, it's the invasion all over again."

"And the insurgents?" Roberts asked.

"We wiped out this group, but there'll be more. Like I said, just like the invasion again." Miller shook his head. "Get some rest if you want to. We'll move out in an hour."

* * *

_Stargate Command_

"Sir, Lacrosse Three has just passed over Iraq," Walter reported as General O'Neill entered. "It seems to have picked up something."

Lacrosse Three was launched in 1997 by the United States. It was third in a series of radar reconnaissance satellites. The synthetic aperture radar on the satellite could see through clouds and even penetrate the ground to a limited degree. Though many of Earth's satellites had been taken out after Anubis' attack, Lacrosse Three was still operational.

"I know, that's why I came here," O'Neill joked. "Do you think we've found the Trust base?"

"Take a look for yourself, sir." Walter handed the General a set of printed pictures.

"Hmm. Looks like some evil scientist's underground lair," O'Neill remarked. "All right, send these to our ground team."

"Yes, sir."

* * *

_Fallujah, Iraq_

With three vehicles out of action, the remaining ones had to be packed tighter. Carter was now squeezed in along with Roberts and Somers. She was almost touching Miller, and her armour did not feel like a fabric uniform.

"Damn, I think they hit our running gear," Bailey complained. "This thing is driving like a pig."

"Or maybe it's because we took on three extra passengers," SFC Jones suggested.

"Three extra elephants, maybe," the driver grumbled.

"Shut up and drive, soldier." Jones gingerly passed back a plastic water bottle with yellow liquid in it. "Anyone else have to take a piss?"

Amanda Somers had expected to see some pretty insane things attached to the SGC, but riding a Humvee through Iraq disguised as a (male!) Army soldier was not one of them. Despite the initial terror of being tossed a rifle and being forced to fight for her life on Tartarus, she found herself enjoying the job more and more. Sadly, her contract would be over in a few months, a fact she tried to forget.

Disgusted, she looked away when Captain Miller unceremoniously unzipped his fly and urinated into the bottle. He offered it to her. "No thanks," she declined politely. Amanda had actually just gone in her suit a few minutes ago.

"No. Hell no." That was Captain Roberts. Carter just shook her head.

"You absorb bullets, you don't piss, you're like fucking robots," Sergeant Jones joked. "I don't suppose you eat, either?"

He tossed the bottle to Somers, who amazingly caught it without spilling it all over herself. "Get rid of that."

"Don't freak out," General O'Neill joked from halfway across the world.

She tossed the bottle out the window and wiped her gloved hands on the seat. It spilled onto the ground for a second until a young boy found it. He shouted to his friend. The soldiers did not see the rest, however, as the Humvee rounded a corner and they disappeared from view.

"Bravo One-Five, this is Command," O'Neill's voice buzzed over the radio. "Carter, are you listening?"

"Here, sir," she whispered.

"A Russian spysat just passed over Iraq. Got some interesting photos, I'm sending them over to you now."

The pictures were relayed via satellite, and appeared on Carter's HUD. She pretended to rub her arm, but what she was really doing was manipulating controls superimposed onto her field of vision. "Looks like some kind of underground complex, sir."

"That's pretty well done," Daniel added, presumably looking at the same images. "It looks like they built it right below the city."

"There are no visible entrances," Teal'c pointed out.

"You might have to get closer. Scanny dealies still running?"

"Yes, sir. Anything else?"

"No, just thought you'd want to see them. O'Neill out."

"Carver! Carver!" Jacob Miller waved his hand in front of "Captain Carver"'s face.

"Uh, what?" Carter/Carver said. "Did I miss something?"

"You zoned out for a minute. Did you go into standby or something?" Jones asked. "With all due respect, of course, sir."

"You are so full of shit, Jones," Miller jabbed.

"Hey, what else can take a lot of bullets, doesn't eat or piss?"

"And can toss a terrorist across a room with ease," one of the soldiers added. "He did that, too."

"Uh, Master Chief?" Bailey suggested from the driver's seat. "Three Master Chiefs would weigh this sucker down like crazy, too."

"You play way too fucking many video games, Private," Jones chided harshly. "No, I'm sticking with robots."

"What's real and fits the same qualifications?" Miller asked suddenly after a pause.

"Robots are real, sir."

Captain Miller ignored him. "A E S F." He sounded the letters out slowly, one by one.

Carter felt a pang of fear as Miller explained his theory. "As any of you who haven't been living under a rock probably know, our friends the Space Cadets have developed one hell of an armour system. The details are of course classified, but apparently they can walk around and just tank bullets and are also super strong. And due to the amount of armour, they weigh a lot more too."

"That's not too bad, sir," Jones admitted.

His commanding officer continued. "And I'm willing to bet that at least one of these is a woman. The Space Cadets have their heads so high up in the clouds that close to half their soldiers are female. They're obviously on an important mission, too."

"Samuel Carver"- he put air quotes around that- "is Samantha Carter, who I should refer to as ma'am because she is actually my superior officer. SG-1. That means that their mission in Iraq is pretty damn important."

"But there's nothing here except for sand, terrorists, and dictators!" one of the soldiers objected.

"Which makes it a perfect place to hide an alien spaceship," Bailey said from the front.

"Permission to speak freely, sir?" SFC Jones asked.

"Granted."

"I think you should be sent home with a dishonourable discharge, sir, because you are batshit fucking insane."

"Sergeant, if you have any doubts, just go ahead and poke one of them."

"Robots could fit all those criteria," he grumbled.

"Bravo Five-One- is it okay to call you that?- stay calm. Your cover hasn't been blown yet. Just deny it."

"Roger that," Carter whispered. She raised her voice. "Wait, did you just call me a girl? I find that very offensive."

"No, sir- would it be sir or ma'am for something with no gender? Nevermind. No, I did not call you a girl, I called you a robot."

"You people are nuts," Roberts said.

"You are, anyway, sir," Jones half-agreed. "The Space Cadets are too incompetent to pull off this kind of op."

"Alright, if they pressure you a bit more give them this cover story," O'Neill chirped. "You're an elite Army unit sent on a top-secret mission to kill Osama Bin Laden."

"That sounds like something out of a bad movie script, sir," Sam objected.

"We can flesh out the details more, though." There was a pause. "There. Now we're working our asses off to get that story together."

"You don't have a very high opinion of the AESF, do you?" Roberts asked.

"Nope," the Sergeant said. "Don't like them Space Cadets at all."

"Excuse me, but aren't they the only thing between us and everything out there?" Amanda asked.

"Yeah, but they're not real soldiers at all," the Sergeant argued. "Basically a bunch of glorified flyboys. And flygirls. What the hell kind of army puts women on the frontline? Not to mention the size. Way too fucking small to do anything. And don't even get me started on the whole armour thing."

"I still don't understand why you don't like that, Sergeant," Private Bailey said. "I'm jealous as hell. Who wouldn't want to be real life Master Fucking Chief?"

"It makes pussies, kid, it makes fucking pussies. You don't have to be very tough to be an AESF soldier. You're always warm but not too warm, hydrated, clean and dry. Bullets flying at you? It's not even that dangerous. We have to crawl through mud at minus twenty with bullets whizzing overhead. It's fucking cold, fucking gross and fucking dangerous. Now imagine that in a nice sealed bulletproof bubble. No wonder why there are so many girls in the Space Cadet Corp."

"And you call me insane," Miller laughed. "Jones, I don't know what the hell is-"

Without warning, Captain Roberts reached forward and jerked the wheel hard to the left. They knew the reason why a moment later. A bomb went off about a meter to the right of the careening vehicle, peppering it with shrapnel and slamming it hard to the left. The vehicle rolled over and skidded sideways into a solid unmoving building. Fuel began leaking out of damaged lines, and caught fire on the hot engine. Seconds after the IED went off, a fire was blazing under the hood and slowly spreading back.

Even if there was a battle outside, being shot was better than burning to death. Still, the bomb had injured them to various degrees. Private Bailey was mostly unhurt and scrambled to relative safety. Captain Miller kicked the door out, dragging a man out behind him. Colonel Carter slammed her own door open and crawled out. An alarm in her ear notified her that the holographics on her suit had failed. A scream caused her to ignore it and turn back.

Sergeant First Class Kevin Jones had one leg trapped under the twisted metal that was once the passenger side door. Blood flowed freely from the broken limb. Worse, the fire was starting to lick at his shins. He tried to drag himself out, but only injured himself further.

Captain Miller immediately rushed to his friend's aid. He tried to grab the door but pulled his bare hands away after being burned instantly by the hot metal. He took a deep breath and steeled himself for the coming waves of pain. Something quite rigid, very heavy and definitely female pushed him out of the way.

Samantha Carter grabbed the broken door with both hands, her thin gloves protecting her hands from the heat. She tore the door off, tossed it aside and dragged the Sergeant out of the vehicle. Meanwhile, Amanda pushed an unconscious soldier out, then climbed out. She patted out a burning puddle of gasoline on her arm with her hand. Her holographics flickered and died.

"Still have that awful opinion of women?" Sam asked as a medic began treating the wounded man.

* * *

_Stargate Command_

O'Neill listened to the news soberly. It was not good. The ground team was uninjured, but several of them, including Carter, had lost their holographic systems. Their cover was now blown. The convoy was blown to hell and several American soldiers were dead. "And the one you saved is a sexist?"

"Yes, sir."

"And you saved him anyway?"

"Because I-"

General O'Neill cut her off. "It was a joke, Carter. And the company commander?"

"Captain Miller is a mixed sack," Teal'c replied.

"Mixed bag," Carter corrected. "He's understandably upset over the loss of his men, feels cheated by us but as you know suspected it before. He is thankful that I saved his right-hand man and the skin on his hands, so that's worth something."

"Damn, we were so close, too."

"Sir?"

"Just five minutes before the attack, we got an intelligence report from the Israelis. It turns out they've known about the facility and have been investigating it. They didn't know about the Trust connection- thought it was Al-Qaida, actually. But they did have partial plans, including known entrances."

"Where's the closest one?" Carter asked.

"Five kilometers, straight through insurgent territory."

"Sir, even if the insurgents don't kill us, the Trust will notice us for sure. There's no way this is going to work."

"I know, Carter." General O'Neill sighed. "Looks like instead of pretending to be the Army, we're going to have to ask them for help?"

"And then a whole bunch of people know and the Trust will too," Daniel objected.

"You're learning," O'Neill replied.

"Sir, there are only a few people who know who we really are," Carter said. "Captain Miller's men and possibly a few insurgents. If we can convince him to help us, and if you drop that-"

General O'Neill snapped his fingers. "I see what you're getting at, Carter. I'd say it's the craziest plan I've ever heard, but it really isn't. Give it a shot."

* * *

_Fallujah, Iraq_

"Captain, I need to talk to you," Carter shouted at Miller. He was busy, yelling orders at his subordinates. Everyone was on edge, and they were still trying to put the convoy together again.

He held up his hand. "With all due respect, _Colonel_, I have a lot of things I have to get done right now. Your apology can wait."

"Apology?" Carter asked. "For what?"

"Deceiving me. Nearly getting my people killed- no, you did get some of them killed- several fucking times!" Captain Miller roared. "Jones was right about you. You're a bunch of glorified fucking flyboys. And flygirls. All taking some weekend trip to the desert sands of Iraq to kill some terrorists for sport."

Sam raised her own voice. "Shut the hell up and listen. Remember when the Russian ultranationalists tried to kill the President? That was done by the Trust- the single most dangerous criminal slash terrorist group on Earth. They have alien technology, deep plants in more than one government, and a big important base right here. We came to take out that base."

"Big and important?" Miller fumed. "If it was so big and important, why don't you just nuke the fucker and call it done? So thirty thousand men die in the blink of an eye?"

"Captain, you need to calm down," Carter said forcefully.

"Calm down? My second in command might not make it to tomorrow, my vehicles are wrecked and half my men are dead. Because of you."

"It would have been worse without us! If we didn't notice the insurgents sneaking behind, they would have stabbed you right in the back. If Captain Roberts hadn't jumped onto that machine gun and gunned down the enemy position, you would have lost even more people. If I hadn't been there when the IED took out our Humvee, Sergeant Jones would be dead and your hands would be permanently scarred."

"Oh, look at you in your fancy powered armour and your super duper sensors. Well if you're so great, why don't you just go get Osama Bin Laden yourself?"

"That's not our mission. We're not an American force, this isn't our war. We came here to take down the Trust. Nothing more, nothing less."

It was not the fact that Sam was a woman that stopped Miller from punching her in the face. It was the fact that she was a seven hundred pound armoured war machine. He took a deep breath and lowered his voice, defeated. "All right, fine. What do you want?"

"We need you to escort us a three point one miles into insurgent territory."

"Colonel, I'd like to help, but my company is wrecked. Right now all I can do is put the pieces back together and join another."

"You'll have us, our sensors and I might be able to pull some strings and get us close air support. Captain, do you want to be a hero and do what's really important or not."

"Yeah, you're right. We can still do this."

"Better," Carter said. "Have you contacted your superiors yet?"

"Told them the convoy was wrecked, IED. Didn't tell them about you, though. They wouldn't believe me anyway." He motioned with his hand to the new lead Humvee, and Bailey cranked the engine over.

"Are they going to be a problem?"

"If they are, fuck 'em," Miller shrugged. He turned to his own troops. "Let's roll, boys."

Five minutes later, the unit, or rather what was left of it, drove off. Five Humvees formed a line, with a Stryker MGS in the back and a vanilla Stryker in the front. The remaining men piled in, ready to dismount or fire out the window at a moment's notice. Everyone was tense. They were headed straight into uncharted territory, potentially littered with IEDs and enemy positions.

"Captain? Captain Miller, what in the hell are you doing?" the radio growled. "You are to take your remaining men to join up with the-"

Miller grabbed the radio and ripped it out of its holder, proceeding to toss it out the window.

"You could get court-martialed for that," Carter informed.

"Aw, fuck 'em. I've been doing this shit way too long."

* * *

_Stargate Command_

"Who are you?" O'Neill asked the newcomer. He was dressed in sharp civilian attire, not the AESF duty uniform that several other civilians preferred to wear.

"Doctor David Mallory, General," the man outstretched his hand, then lowered it. "I'm a psychologist and I'll try to answer any questions you may have regarding the mental state of the people on this mission."

"All right, I have two for you. First, where were you for the last day and a half?"

"Uh, I'm new, General. I was transferred in from my attachment to NCIS just yesterday. And I was only put on this assignment an hour ago."

"Right. And is there anything useful you can tell me?" O'Neill asked harshly.

"Well, like any soldiers in a rapidly deteriorating environment, Colonel Carter and her team will be going through a distinct series of-"

General O'Neill cut him off. "Doc? Useful."

The man opened his briefcase and shuffled a few papers. "Captain Miller. He's war-weary and disagrees with the war in Iraq. The man is unstable, which could be a problem but he will probably keep it together thanks to a long time in the military and its discipline. He lashed out at Colonel Carter because-"

"Doctor!" O'Neill snapped. "Do you have anything directly pertaining to the mission that could affect its outcome?"

"No, sir."

"Then find something," O'Neill turned around and faced the bank of monitors. "Walter, patch me into the ground team."

"You're on, sir."

"Carter!" O'Neill waved his hands. "Wait, the video feed is on too, right?"

"Yes, sir, it's good to see you," Colonel Carter replied. "We're currently just under a mile- one point five kilometers almost exactly- towards our destination. No signs of insurgent acti-"

"SNIPER!"

Whether Carter's words had tempted fate or if it was just a coincidence O'Neill would never figure out. In the space of a second, the situation turned to chaos. A bullet shattered the windshield and barely missed Private Bailey's head. The men inside opened fire, as did several previously hidden insurgents. Carter popped the roof hatch open, shouldered her rifle and began firing.

After the initial panic caused by the sniper subsided, it became clear that their situation wasn't as bad as it seemed. Only a handful of insurgents were attacking them, and none of them had heavy weapons. In vehicles and carrying heavier weapons, the American-AESF force annihilated them.

"All clear, sir!" Carter announced. She conversed briefly with Captain Miller. "No losses on our side, but it was pretty close. One of the vehicles has a flat tire."

"Under repeated strain-" Dr. Mallory began, but was cut off again.

"Unless you have something useful, get out!" O'Neill yelled, shooing the man out of the room.

* * *

_Trust Headquarters, Fallujah, Iraq_

"Unfortunately, it seems our initial reports were inaccurate," the woman with the long blond hair informed. "Our base, and many of our operatives, have been compromised. We must leave this facility and destroy a significant portion of our information and assets. Let me assure you that this is not the end of the Trust. Merely a... setback."

"I must disagree," one of the men said, scratching his dark facial hair again. "I've heard from a reliable source that the AESF is much closer than we thought possible."

"And how close would that be?" the bald man asked.

"Oh, perhaps five miles, give or take," he replied absentmindedly. "I've ordered our forces to tighten security and sent those Islamic idiots after them."

The room burst into loud conversation, bordering on outright panic. "We must be calm about this!" the blond woman shouted. "How good is your source?"

"Very good. Totally reliable- I made sure of that- and he should be standing right beside General O'Neill right now."

"We must leave immediately, then," the blond woman said as the room quieted down somewhat. "Our forces will not be able to hold off even a single team, and even if they could there would be more on top of us in a heartbeat. There's no time to waste. We must put our backup plan into action now."

There was no arguing, only quiet agreement. They all knew that losing valuable assets was a setback, and getting caught was the end. As the group left, one of the men, black haired with a Texan accent, confronted her outside.

He slapped her across the face. "You stupid bitch! You destroyed everything!"

"It was no fault of mine-"

The man slapped her again. "Shut the hell up, bimbo. When I'm done with you, your own momma won't want to see you."

He kicked at her, sending the woman sprawling. His fists flew at her body, some of them blocked, some of them not. "You've made me do something I really don't want to do!"

There were three loud bangs, and the man collapsed, blood dripped from his mouth. He gasped for breath but only choked on his own blood.

"And you've made me do something I really didn't want to do," the woman replied, tucking the small handgun back into her suit.

"I see you can take care of yourself, my lady," a male voice said. A Jaffa, clad in desert fatigues and carrying a modified staff weapon kneeled behind her. He once carried the mark of Anubis, but now carried none at all.

"I am the goddess of war," Athena/Charlotte Mayfield replied. She handed him a small plastic case. "The ship is complete. Take your Jaffa and this to Ba'al."

"As you wish, my lady." He bowed and left. Scattered Jaffa had remained on Earth after Anubis' initial attack. Shame she never had a chance to use them. Oh well, there were others. Athena headed the other way, toward the vehicle garage. The Trust empire would be hers. The others were no problem. Ba'al might be, but she would find a way to take care of him. Maybe she could have his empire, too.

Why rule over primitive backwater shitholes when you could have a nice planet like Earth at your fingertips? Oh sure, you wouldn't have the title of goddess or queen, but it was no secret where the real power was.

* * *

_Fallujah, Iraq_

"So, I guess it worked." Captain Miller observed as they approached the building where the entrance should be. The windshield glass was, of course, totally intact.

"Well, the simulation was rendered on computers centuries ahead of anything else on Earth," Carter replied. "It should look perfectly real."

"Realistic or not, they must have bought it," Miller said as he dismounted the vehicle. "How the hell did they wrap those crazies around their finger so easily?"

Colonel Carter followed him. "The Trust have access to offworld technology. Some of it is very advanced. I don't mean to scare you, but the Goa'uld had a way to brainwash people without them even knowing it. Several, actually."

"That's pretty scary shit," Miller said. "Well, this is your building. I guess we part ways here."

"I guess so." Sam took the man's hand. "If you never hear from us, thank you."

"No, thank you. I'm sorry about what happened. I misjudged you."

"No need to apologize," Carter replied. "Good luck."

"You too," he replied, mounting his vehicle again.

Carter kicked the door open. Inside was a large metal hatch, obscured by a pile of junk. She pushed the junkpile aside and took a look at the hatch. Thick metal, but nothing fancy. Probably a service entrance. A simple padlock kept the hatch secure.

"Ready to try you fancy new toy, Carter?" O'neill's voice rang.

"As always, sir," she replied, pulling a small handheld device from her LBV. She pushed it against the lock and squeezed the trigger. A superhot stream of plasma erupted from the end, effortlessly slicing through the hardened steel. The process was incredibly bright, and her faceplate automatically polarized to protect her eyes.

The lock fell off with a snap, and Sam nodded to Teal'c, who heaved the hatch open, making sure it dropped quietly. Thankfully, it did not squeak. She put away the cutter and extracted what looked like a cable. In reality, it was a device not unlike inspection cameras used for piping and by SWAT teams. It was somewhat unique, however, in having no display in the end. She tapped a few wrist controls and a view from the camera appeared on her HUD.

Sam carefully lowered the device down the shaft, turning it to look around. It seemed to be a drab concrete hallway with pipes on the roof. "All clear. Let's go." She hopped down into the hole, a drop of about ten feet.

"So, uh, I know it's a little late to be asking this, ma'am," Captain Roberts mentioned, dropping down behind her. "But what exactly are we going to do now that we're inside?"

"Primary objective is to find the Trust leaders and capture or eliminate them. Secondary is to recover any data or documentation pertaining to Trust operations. And the-"

Suddenly, alarms went off. "Intruder alert! Intruder alert! Enact emergency plan delta! AESF forces are in the base!"

"We've got company!" Roberts shouted.

"Maybe," Carter held up her hand. "They're heading in the other direction."

They crept through the deserted halls, inching further into the base. Suddenly, Colonel Carter held up her hand. "Now we have company."

A group of men and one blond haired woman rounded the corner. Carter raised her weapon to shoot, but it was a long and awkward rifle and slammed right into her target. She kicked him away and fired wildly from the hip, blood from exit wounds splattering everywhere.

The group had already changed directions. Two of the men had fallen immediately, the others were running in another direction toward a thick blast door. The SG teams fired at them, ripping apart all three men and hitting the woman in the arm before the door shut.

"Damn it, they must be heading for the hangar!" Carter yelled. "We're taking a shortcut, go!"

She led them down the same hall they had just come from and to the right. Two men, dressed in desert fatigues and carrying AKM rifles fired at them. Bullets bounced harmlessly off their shields as they ripped the Trust employees to shreds.

The hangar was not far away. It was a truly impressive structure, at least three stories high, wide enough to accomodate an entire air wing, and built directly under a preexisting city. It was filled with unconventional craft, including two Al'kesh, several Tel'tac and a squadron of death gliders. More mundane helicopters sat between the alien vehicles. Strangest of all, however, was a clearly human-built ship. It was cruder than any AESF vessel, but obviously developed along similar lines. Its size was comparable to an Al'kesh, possibly a little bigger.

A massive open space, the inside of the hangar was a killing field. As soon as the AESF soldiers entered the room, seemingly every man and woman in the room opened fire. Bullets smacked into the ground around the soldiers, into nearby objects and against their shields.

Carter groaned as her weapon locked on an empty magazine. She swiftly popped it out and slammed in a new one. She fired wildly, jumping behind a crate. As she splinters of wooden crate flew up around her, Teal'c opened fire with his M249, ripping into the enemy positions. In front of them, a massive opening formed in the ceiling, displacing a park above.

"They're leaving!" Daniel shouted, firing his own rifle. "Jack, I hope you have something planned for these guys!"

* * *

_Stargate Command_

"We're working on it!" Jack O'Neill shouted. He picked up a phone and punched a number in. "Major Davis, we've got alien spacecraft lifting off from Iraq. Do we have anything in the area that we can divert?"

"We can try to divert some Air Force assets, but they're mostly ground attack and not air superiority. Surface to air missiles might not do anything, but we do have some." There was a pause. "The Israelis can scramble in ten minutes, but it might be too late. The Russians have a flight of MiG-29s up for an exercise, but they're willing to divert."

"Don't wait, get them going!" O'Neill ordered. "Walter, what do we have?"

"DTCS satellites are out of range," Walter reported. "We can launch a flight of F-306s from Andrews- it'll take them two hours if they stay in atmosphere or thirty minutes ballistic. Athena is being repaired, Daedalus and Prometheus are unavailable."

"Launch those '306s!" the General ordered. "We'll throw everything we have at them. I wonder if it'll be enough." He noticed something on the map of the base.

"Hey, what's this thing?" The text was in Hebrew, but it looked like a weapon and the little nuclear symbol was unmistakable.

"We believe that is a nuclear weapon, sir."

They shared a silent "Oh, shit" look. "Carter, there may be a nuclear bomb in the facility."

* * *

_Fallujah, Iraq_

"That's not good, sir," Carter replied, swapping out magazines behind the now nearly-useless crate that once passed for cover. Bullets peppered her rapidly weakening shields. The human-built ship was lifting off, with the other alien ones preparing to do the same. She tossed a grenade toward the enemy. "If it goes off, it'll take out a large section of the city."

"Which is why you're going to stop it," O'Neill said. "Break off the spaceships, we'll take care of those."

"Sir, they may be attempting to leave the planet."

"Just go," Captain Roberts said. "My team can deal with the ships." As if to prove her point, she stood up and rushed forward to the nearest Al'kesh.

"Good luck, Captain!" Carter shouted, retreating back into the corridor. Bullets slammed against her armour as the last of her shields died away. "Sir, which way to the nuke?"

"You should be getting a map now," O'Neill said. It appeared on her HUD a second later. "Looks like, straight ahead two blocks then make a right at the intersection of corridor 3-B and maintainable shaft delta."

"Thank you for the instructions, sir," she replied. They jogged down the drab concrete corridor. At the end was a single guard, looking like he was about to urinate himself. Nevertheless, he drew a shotgun and began firing.

Sam was on her last magazine, which was empty. She tossed the rifle aside and charged toward the man, ignoring the pellets that slammed harmlessly against her shields. He elbowed the man in the face, breaking his nose, then grabbed his weapon and wrestled it away. As she did so, it caught on his clothing and discharged. The buckshot almost literally exploded the guard's head, spraying the wall with chunks of flesh and bone and giving Sam's armour a new coat of red. She wiped her faceplate with her also-soaked hand, which just smeared it more. It was an ugly kill, but they had more pressing concerns.

The bomb was on the floor below. Sam opened the door to the staircase and, ignoring the stairs, jumped down to the lower floor. The bomb was only two doors down, protected only by a thick blast door.

"It's a blast door, use two sticks," O'Neill said helpfully.

"Teal'c," Sam motioned to the door. He carried most of their explosives. Three sticks were placed on the door, then SG-1 retreated around the corner. There was a colossal blast, the door being completely obliterated. Smoke filled the room and flooded into the corridor.

Inside, a large cylindrical device dominated the room. Its thick steel casing had protected it from the worst of the explosion. Carter used her knife as a prybar and tore off the access panel. Inside was a series of wires, all the same colour, and a few circuit boards.

"Colonel Carter," Teal'c interrupted. "I believe we have two minutes to disarm the bomb."

Two minutes? That wasn't enough to disarm the bomb... unless. "Command, do you have any plans for this bomb?"

"Negative, we don't even know what it is."

So much for that idea. Carter extracted a stick of C4 explosive from her own LBV. Time for something crazy.

* * *

_Over Fallujah, Iraq_

Rav seren (Major) Zarah Avraham pulled her F-15D Eagle around in a tight turn, matching the MiG to her left. Just minutes ago, her squadron had been scrambled and sent toward Iraq. It wasn't their war, not in any sense. Then the Russians showed up.

"It is good time for a fight, eh comrade?" a male voice said in heavily accented English. A USN F-18 fighter pulled up beside the two larger aircraft.

"Ignore Nikolai, he seems to think it is still days of Soviet Union," another Russian said. "Is good to work with you, American and Israeli."

"Let's get down to business, shall we?" the American in the F-18 ordered. "Bear Leader, take your flight around to the east. Ay-yit, you go south. We'll go right down the centre. Shoot to kill, but only if it looks like it's not from Earth."

"Roger that," Zarah replied, cringing at the American's brutal pronunciation. She broke off from the Russian and the American. The other Eagles followed her. She slammed the throttle forward and felt the surge of acceleration behind her.

Aliens, eh? She'd been there and done that before. Zarah habitually rubbed her arm. The scar was still there where the crumpled wreckage of her aircraft has sliced open her arm nearly a year ago. That sortie hadn't been fun, but it was definitely the high point of her career.

* * *

_Stargate Command_

"You did _what_?" O'Neill asked, shocked.

"I blew up the bomb, sir," Carter replied as she headed back to the hangar.

"I don't see a mushroom cloud."

"That's because I destroyed the device. A nuclear bomb is very sensitive and relies on precise timing. We blew all the mechanisms to hell. It made quite a mess- I think we're pretty badly contaminated- but definitely better than the alternative."

"Contaminated?" O'Neill asked, concerned.

"Our suits protect us from radiation and radioactive particles, but we're probably covered in radioactive dust. How's Captain Roberts' team doing?"

"They've secured the hangar, but most of the ships have already left," O'Neill announced. "It's up to the fighters now."

"ETA?"

"They should be approaching right about now."

* * *

_Over Fallujah, Iraq_

"Targets in sight. Weapons free, weapons free!" On Falcon Lead's orders, Zarah flipped the safeties off on her weapons. In front of her, outlines of alien spaceships rapidly approached. Wait a minute... one of them was clearly human.

"Falcon lead, are we to fire on the human vessel?" Zarah asked. She jinked her fighter around as the first plasma bolts flew toward them.

"Uh, gotta clear that one with command." There was a pause. "That's affirm, Ay-yit. You are clear to fire on the human spacecraft."

"Roger that." The Israeli pilot selected AIM-120s and fired. The two missiles flew straight and true, impacting the target straight on. After that, all hell broke loose. AMRAAMs and R-77s streaked from the fighters toward the Trust-operated spacecraft.

The two Al'kesh were the first to fall, a Tel'tak dropping moments later. The human-built ship, however, continued to climb, shrugging off the missile hits. Missiles of its own streaked from launchers toward the attacking aircraft.

"Inbound missiles!" Nikolai shouted. Zarah pulled her fighter hard right and punched out flares, just in case. An F-15 in her flight took a missile and exploded. Shrapnel from another missile tore through the engine of another and the pilot ejected, hoping to get picked up by the Americans and not the Iraqis.

The four death gliders had broken off and were headed toward them. Though the death glider was fast and manoeuvrable, it did not possess effective weapons. Plasma bolts missed Zarah's fighter by miles, and she hastily loosed a Sidewinder at one of the gliders, ripping it to pieces.

"What the hell?" the American exclaimed. "The ship just disappeared!"

"What do you mean, disappeared?" Zarah asked as she pulled her fighter into another turn, trying to shake off a death glider on her tail.

"Look for yourself, it's fucking gone!" the American shouted. He came up behind Zarah's pursuer and ripped it to pieces with his cannon.

"_Yob tvoyu maht_..." Nikolai swore. Fuck your mother.

* * *

_Stargate Command_

"It just disappeared, sir. Not on any of our sensors," Sergeant Harriman explained.

General O'Neill snapped his fingers. "Just like that?"

"I'm afraid so, sir."

"Damn. Damn it to hell!" O'Neill swore. "What's the status on our ground team?"

"It seems to have calmed down for the moment."

O'Neill took a deep breath. "Alright, we're going to have to send in some teams to mop up the pieces. Then we'll have to go public, but that's not my problem. Good job, Walter. Thank you."

"Just doing my job, sir."

* * *

_Fallujah, Iraq_

Athena parked the truck on the side of the road. She had watched the battle in the sky. Idiots. Didn't they realize that they would be shot down as soon as they left the ground? From what she could tell, however, the homegrown ship had escaped. Good thing, too. That ship was replaceable, but only just. Acquiring the hyperdrive had been particularly hard. But if this worked, it would be worth it.

She removed the bandage from her arm. She had taken several bullets on the way out. Most hit her armoured vest. They left nasty bruises, but that wasn't too bad. The one in her arm was nasty, though. She retrieved a Goa'uld healing device and a knife from a hidden compartment under the seat. The healing device would seal the wound, but it would leave the bullet in. Athena gritted her teeth as she dug into her arm with the knife, intensifying the bleeding and the pain. Thankfully, it didn't take long before she got it out. She slipped the healing device onto her hand and waved it over the wound, the device seemingly magically healing the skin.

There were a few problems to be dealt with, of course. Athena had a female personality and a female host, which wasn't a good thing in a sexist Arab nation. She didn't speak a significant amount of Arabic, though she was fluent in English, Greek and several Goa'uld dialects. All of those problems could be solved with technology, of course. She attached what looked like a bracelet to her wrist.

Athena drove toward the outskirts of the city, stopping at an American security checkpoint. A man wearing desert camouflage and carrying an M16 motioned for her to stop.

"Alright, sir, I need you to get out of the vehicle," the man said. Another man translated it into Arabic.

"Okay, okay, but I am just passing through," Athena replied in the same tongue.

Another man poked his head into the vehicle and felt around with his gloved hands. "Lots of filth- dried blood, even. I don't see anything nasty, though."

"Alright, Bailey, glad you're doing it and not me." The man turned to Athena. "All right, you're free to go." Another one of the Americans translated it into Arabic.

"_Shokran_," Athena replied before getting back into the truck and driving off.

* * *

_Stargate Command_

The same room used for the briefing was also used for the debrief. A television broadcast played on the holographic projector.

_The Allied Earth Space Forces raided a suspected Trust facility on Friday. Though details are classified, sources claim that at least one Trust leader was killed in the attack. Several alien spacecraft were downed shortly after the attack by joing American, Israeli and Russian forces. No casualties were taken by the AESF forces in the attack. In the aftermath of the attack, insurgent resistance to US forces has dropped by an unprecedented magnitude._

_Brian Vogler, a notable executive of Colson Industries and a personal friend of Alec Colson, was arrested in connection with the attack. In a public statement..._

General O'Neill shut off the device. "Well, I suppose it could have been worse. The public has mixed opinions on the Fallujah raid. I suppose it would be a lot worse if that nuke went off."

"We did gain a lot of information on the Trust," Daniel said positively. "We arrested some of their top people and the loss of that base must have crippled their organization."

"Someone's going to exploit the power vacuum," O'Neill observed darkly. "Someone always does. The remaining executives are going to be even more powerful than before."

"My main worry, sir, is the spaceship," Carter added. "If I'm reading the captured data correctly, it's capable of not only intergalactic but interstellar travel, using a copy of an asgard-derived hyperdrive."

"I believe the question that must be asked is where did it go?" Teal'c asked.

"Ba'al, the Lucian Alliance, maybe an offworld offshoot of the Trust. That's not the only part, sir. They have the coordinates for Atlantis."

There was a long, awkward pause. "So, what you're telling me is-"

"I'm afraid so. They're headed for Atlantis."

* * *

Well, there it is, in all its incomplete and unpolished glory. Regarding SG-114, this is possibly the first time where I'm not happy with the choice. Not so much that they were in it, but they were underused. I also hope nobody got stuck in any of the massively deep plot holes. Like most of SGD, I'm not happy with this chapter. Don't get me wrong, it's not that I don't want to do this, but I don't really have the time or skill to do it right. My current terrible plan is still to push through season 1 to the end, then write and polish the first part of Season 2 during the summer to be published in September.


	22. S1E17 Reckoning

It's a bit rushed, but it's here. Enjoy it. One more Atlantis episode to go, then a two-parter season finale.

* * *

_Stargate Command_

General Jack O'Neill did not have a lot to do. Well, that wasn't strictly true. He had a lot of paperwork and a phone interview with the New York Times to get to. More accurately, he didn't have anything fun or important to do. After five minutes of shuffling papers, he found himself playing Minesweeper on his office computer. Without warning, he suddenly disappeared in a beam of light.

_Asgard Battlecruiser Yggdrasil_

"Thor!" O'Neill greeted upon realizing where he was.

"O'Neill," Supreme Commander Thor acknowledged.

"I take it you didn't come here to party?"

"No," the grey alien replied. "As you know, we were never able to successfully eliminate the replicator threat. The remaining replicators did not do significant damage to the Ida galaxy or its inhabitants."

"So, what's the problem then?"

Thor brought up a map of the Milky Way, showing various coloured dots. "The replicators did not stay in the Ida galaxy. As we speak, they are defeating the goa'uld and overwhelming yours."

O'Neill was silent for a moment. He said quietly, "I'm not sure if I want to laugh or to cry."

"If the goa'uld cannot find a way to stop the replicators, your galaxy will be overrun in a matter of days. We have technology that can easily destroy replicators, but hesitate to use it."

"Why?" O'Neill asked, a bit frustrated.

"The reasons are twofold," Thor explained. "The first reason is that we simply cannot spare enough ships to attack the replicators in a significant manner. The second is that we fear repeated use of the anti-replicator weapon will result in the replicators adapting to it, as has occurred in the past."

"So, we've got nothing."

"I am afraid so. The _Yggdrasil_ will remain in orbit to coordinate with your forces and assist in defending your planet should it become necessary." His console beeped. "I believe your people are calling you back."

"Thanks for the-"

_Stargate Command_

"-tip off," General O'Neill finished as he rematerialized in the gateroom. He immediately recognized the new arrival. "Jacob! I was just-"

"Jack, we got a problem," Jacob Carter/Selmak said, not bothering with any formalities. "We need to talk."

"Let me guess. Replicators invading the galaxy?"

"I take it you heard that from our Asgard friends?" the older man asked, a little bit surprised.

"Yep. Thor's still sitting up in orbit, just in case things go nasty." Jack replied, leading him into the meeting room. "SG-1 is still on a mission with the rebel Jaffa."

Jacob looked worried, so Jack quickly added. "Don't worry, they'll be fine."

"Right, down to business. The Tok'ra have spent the last several years tagging as many ships as possible with subspace locator beacons in an effort to track their movements. Today we can keep tabs on over a hundred motherships."

"Impressive. Go on."

The Tok'ra pulled a small device out of his pocket. "It's a receiver that allows me to tap into the subspace network. We can track Ba'al's fleet, keep tabs on how their fight with the replicators is going. We can also get up to the minute intelligence reports from Tok'ra agents."

He didn't have too much trouble connecting it to the computer in the table, much to Jack's amazement. "I'm not that great with this stuff, but Selmak's been doing it for a very long time," he explained.

"You know, we could have used something like this a long time ago."

"Sorry, but the High Council didn't want to release it. Didn't think they could trust you with it."

"We're supposed to be allies," Jack complained. "What changed their mind?"

"Nothing." The underlying meaning was clear. "Ah, there we go!"

A map of the galaxy appeared above the table, filled with red dots labeled with small text. "That works better than I expected," O'Neill commented. "You know, it still amazes me that we can interface that kind of stuff at all. Nevermind, on with the show."

"Each dot represents a goa'uld ship," Jacob explained.

"That's a lot of dots," O'Neill remarked.

"Uh-huh. Watch." The Tok'ra pointed at a dot. It winked out and disappeared, then another. "The beacon stopped transmitting, meaning the ship was either destroyed or taken over by the replicators."

"That can't be good."

Jacob Carter nodded. "Battles like the one you just saw are taking place across the galaxy. Several Goa'uld territories are now in replicator hands. If this continues, the galaxy will be controlled completely by replicators in weeks."

"Thor said days," Jack objected.

"I wouldn't put it past them," Jacob agreed. "Days at worst, weeks at best."

"You know, I've said this to Thor and I'll say it again. I have mixed feelings about this."

"Well everyone wants the goa'uld gone, but not to be replaced by something worse."

O'Neill nodded. He pointed to a set of dots, some disappearing. "Whose territory is this?"

"Amaterasu, why?"

_Ha'tak Orbiting Sanada_

"They are late," Teal'c stated as he entered the Pel'tac. Sam and Daniel trailed behind. Though Teal'c wore a more traditional chanmail shirt, both of the humans wore much more modern Aegis II armour. All carried weapons of human manufacture. These were M91s and Five-sevens for Sam and Daniel and AK-103s for Teal'c and Bra'tac, who was piloting the ship.

"Or they're not coming," Daniel suggested.

"Were that the case, Rak'nor would have sent word," Teal'c replied.

"If he were able to do so," Bra'tac mentioned. "It is possible his vessel was attacked or suffered some kind of malfunction."

"Maybe we should reconsider the misison," Sam suggested.

"This is not an SGC mission," Teal'c countered. "You are merely observers. In any case, reconsidering is not an option."

"Look, I know the timing of these first few strikes is critical," Daniel argued, "but if you take on one of Amaterasu's motherships without proper backup, you could get yourself killed. Us observers, too," he added, sharing a look with Sam.

"Many such attacks have been coordinated to occur simultaneously across the galaxy," Bra'tac explained. "Each designed to create a strategic weakness in the forces of the System Lords."

"And if even one fails-" Samantha Carter was cut off by Teal'c.

"The Jaffa Rebellion has gone to great lengths to acquire the security codes currently being used by the System Lords. If all goes according to plan, they will believe we are allies and lower the shield."

Sam smiled behind her transparent faceplate. "Is something funny, Colonel Carter?" Teal'c asked.

"Well, if O'Neill were here, he'd make some joke about it. Maybe something along the lines of 'you're not James T. Kirk' or 'maybe one of the goa'uld has seen it'."

"It was an excellent strategy," Teal'c said. "And I highly doubt the goa'uld have encountered it before. The Jaffa contingent aboard this vessel will be sufficient to take the mothership once this shield is down. We will not squander the opportunity as James Kirk did."

There was no further opportunity for conversation. The console bleeped and a display appeared. "Ships sensors have detected a vessel closing on our position," Bra'tac stated. "Ha'tak class."

"Rak'nor?" Daniel asked.

"Unlikely," Teal'c said. "He would have hailed long before his approach."

'Then it must be Amaterasu," Carter assumed. "Shouldn't we get out of here?"

"Teal'c, the odds are not in our favour," Daniel added.

"They rarely are, Daniel Jackson," Teal'c replied, raising an eyebrow- and was that a hint of a smile?

Bra'tac manipulated the controls. "I'm hailing them and transmitting the security codes."

A blast rocked the ship. "They are firing," Bra'tac said, stating the obvious. Two more blasts rocked their ship. "Shield strength is down sixty percent."

"What the hell did they hit us with?" Carter asked.

"Returning fire," Teal'c said as he took control of the weapons. Their Ha'tak veered away from the other as it opened fire, yellow plasma bolts slamming into the other ship's shields.

"Our weapons are ineffective," Teal'c concluded. A near-miss grazed their shields as the enemy vessel mercilessly laid down a barrage of cannon fire.

"Keep firing, maybe enough will crack their shields," Carter ordered.

_AES _Athena

The newly promoted Lieutenant Colonel Sidorova sat in the captain's chair. Her grey uniform was immaculate and her "What's our ETA?" she asked.

"Four minutes eighteen seconds, ma'am," Major Marks reported.

"Inquire with the engineer on the possibility of going to 105 percent on the reactor."

"Captain, engine room says 105 percent on the reactor possible, but not recommended." Though Sidorova's official rank was Lieutenant Colonel, reflecting the Air Force history of the AESF, naval influences led to the unofficial title of Captain being placed on the commanding officer of a starship.

The Colonel paused for a moment to consider it. "Go to 105 percent on the reactor. And recalculate ETA."

"ETA now two minutes thirty three seconds," Marks reported.

"Sound battle stations," Sidorova ordered. "Lock down the ship and repare to repel boarders."

_Ha'tak Orbiting Sanada_

The Ha'tak shuddered again as another of the powerful shots slammed into its shields. "Shields have failed," Bra'tac reported. Another blast slammed into the ship, rocking it crazily.

A power conduit exploded. Carter stepped away, but not before the superheated plasma stripped the coating off the armour on her legs. "Damn it!"

"Sublight engines are inoperative," Bra'tac added. "We have lost life support on lower decks."

"Master Bra'tac," an anguished voice crackled over a radio sitting on the console. Gunfire and a clacking noise could be heard in the background. "We've been boarded. These metal creatures, they're-AAAAGH!"

"Replicators," Sam and Daniel said at the same time. They immediately readied their weapons.

"We must evacuate!" Bra'tac abandoned his console and picked up his rifle.

"Death gliders?" Daniel suggested.

"We can use the rings to transport to the planet below," Teal'c said.

"And when we get there?" Daniel asked. Sanada was firmly in the control of Amaterasu, though that might be about to change. Either situation was not a good one.

"We can cross that bridge when we come to it," Bra'tac answered. It was one of his favourite expressions, one he learned from O'Neill years ago. And they said you couldn't teach an old dog new tricks.

"Wait!" Carter called. "Picking up something on sensors- it's the _Athena_!"

_AES _Athena

The _Athena_ shuddered as the replicator-infested Ha'tak fired its weapons at the new arrival. "Return fire!" the commander ordered. "Lifesigns on the second vessel?"

"Four near the Pel'tac, plus fifty others," the sensor officer reported. "All Jaffa except for two humans in the first group."

"Beam those four directly to the bridge and the others to the standard location," Sidorova ordered.

Teal'c, Sam, Daniel and Bra'tac appeared on the bridge seconds later. "Great timing," Sam commented.

"We try to do our best," Sidorova replied as the ship shuddered again. "Concentrate secondary railgun batteries on the active ship, prepare to fire the mass driver. Mark nine nuclear missiles, open fire and destroy the crippled Ha'tak. Sorry."

"No need to apologize," Bra'tac said. "It is necessary."

On her order, four missiles streaked from the VLS tubes on the top of the vessel. "Mark nine" actually referred to the warhead and not the missile- in this case naquadriah enhanced triple stage nuclear warheads with a yield around half a teraton. All four struck the Ha'tak, with no point defence in the way. The detonations were massive, putting out blinding amounts of radiation. However, the actual destructive power was less than it seemed. The four devices practically disintegrated the Ha'tak, but did not significantly affect the infested vessel nearby.

"Mass driver ready, ma'am," Weps reported. The replicator infested vessel was still firing, its energy bolts slowly but surely chewing away at the Asgard designed shields. Of course, the _Athena_ was making this as difficult as possible, manoeuvring rapidly and firing away with its own weapons.

"Target the infested Ha'tak and fire!" A solid tungsten slug was loaded into the accelerator tunnel near the aft end of the ship. Superconducting coils along the length of the weapon accelerated the slug to tremendous speeds. It was crude compared to pure energy weapons, but proved effective. The slug slammed into the shields of the replicator vessel and collapsed them from sheer kinetic energy. Significantly slowed but still moving, it continued to punch a decent sized hole in the ship.

Unlike the _Athena_, Ha'tak vessels were built with little in the way of armour. Even with durability upgrades from the replicators, it was all but over for the ship. The four secondary railguns on the _Athena_ decimated it while smaller railguns chipped away at exposed systems. Crippled, the Ha'tak couldn't do anything but take the hits. Eventually, a tungsten slug hit the main reactor, destabilizing it. The Ha'tak exploded in a ball of plasma, and the battle was over.

"Helm, set course for Earth," Colonel Sidorova ordered. "Best possible speed."

_Stargate Command_

As usual, Briefing Room One was the gathering place for the new arrivals. Weapons were unceremoniously propped against the wall or dropped on the table, and nobody had changed. The holographic display was still running, with noticeably less dots than before.

"So, replicators invading the galaxy, Jaffa rebellion failing, what else is new?" O'Neill asked sarcastically. He added after a moment, "I should page Thor."

Moments later, a perfect hologram of the Asgard Supreme Commander appeared beside them. "Right then. Now that everyone is here, war council."

"We have developed a weapon effective against the replicators," Thor began. "However, we hesitate to use it. Such a weapon has been employed previously, and the replicators quickly adapted to it."

"So, no replicator disruptor?" Carter asked.

"Unless there is a way to apply it to all the replicators at once, no."

"The replicators are still unstoppable. Got it. What about the goa'uld threat?" Jack asked next.

"The Tok'ra have operatives in Ba'al's inner circle," the elder Carter explained. "According to our latest intelligence, the ranks of the Jaffa rebellion are re-pledging their loyalty to the goa'uld by the thousands."

"But the goa'uld are losing the war!" his daughter objected.

"Yeah, wouldn't that make them look kind of weak?" O'Neill expanded.

"Well the Jaffa haven't seen anything like the replicators before," Daniel guessed. "Maybe they see them as a sort of divine retribution from the gods."

"You are correct, Doctor Jackson," Bra'tac nodded. "Many consider them a sort of plague, an evil punishment brought on by their disobedience."

"This situation has dealt the Jaffa rebellion a serious blow," Teal'c added. "Even if we were somehow able to defeat the replicators, the goa'uld will undoubtedly take credit."

"It may now be impossible to turn our brothers back to our cause," Bra'tac said sadly. "In addition to the turned Jaffa, we lost many in the failed surprise attack."

"We must act now, before this conflict is resolved. If we do not, the goa'uld will be able to solidify their position as gods."

"Hey, fellas!" O'Neil interrupted. "The goa'uld probably won't survive to solidify their position as gods!"

"We must win back the hearts and minds of Jaffa, sweep away the image of goa'uld as gods forever," Teal'c continued intensely, ignoring O'Neill. "We must capture the temple at Dakara."

"Haven't we talked about this before?" General O'Neill said. "Didn't we dismiss it as batshit fucking insane?"

"The temple is sacred among Jaffa," Teal'c explained. "It is rooted deep in myth and legend. Many believe the first Jaffa were created there."

"And it's also incredibly well guarded," O'Neill added.

"This course of action is most unwise," Thor cautioned. "Though the goa'uld are weak at this time, any attempt at subverting their domain will weaken their defence against the replicators."

"This is a war that must be fought on two fronts," Bra'tac insisted. "We will reignite the Jaffa uprising and overthrow the goa'uld, while you battle the replicators. Let us both fight the enemy we know best!"

"So, say the Jaffa successfully overthrow the System Lords. What kind of situation are we looking at here?" Jack asked.

"The goa'uld empire will be in disarray," Jacob hypothesized. "Rebels fighting against loyalists. Either way, it gives the replicators even more of an opening. Right now it's like today's United States versus Nazi Germany. If the goa'uld empire goes up in flames, it's going to be like the United States versus Napoleon's France."

"I'm sorry, I'm not that good with historical metaphors," O'Neill said.

"They're going to get their asses kicked seven ways to Sunday instead of six."

"Ah, thank you."

"Actually, sir, I don't think the fall of the goa'uld empire is going to significantly affect the replicator invasion," the younger Carter disagreed. "The System Lords are going down and they're going to lose unless a miracle occurs. This way we get less time to come up with a miracle, yes, but when we do, they won't get the credit."

"Colonel Carter's logic is not wholly unsound," Thor semi-agreed. "However, replicator forces may be stronger than otherwise expected, as they will assimilate the weaker goa'uld forces at a lower rate."

"Well, this is a catch 22 if I've ever seen one," General O'Neill said. "Teal'c, Bra'tac, I can't stop you, but I would-"

"Unscheduled offworld activation!" Walter's voice interrupted, sending them all scrambling to the gateroom.

"Now whatcha got, Walter?" O'Neill asked as he entered the control room.

"Tok'ra IDC, sir," the man replied.

"Open the iris," General O'Neill ordered. Shortly after the "clear" signal was sent, a man wearing typical Tok'ra clothing stepped through.

"Delek," Jacob said icily.

"Selmak," Delek greeted upon seeing him in a not-so-friendly tone. "Your theft of the subspace receiver will be discussed later. Right now there are more pressing concerns."

"Back to the briefing room?" O'Neill asked.

"That would be appropriate," Delek replied.

"We believe that Ba'al has located a weapon capable of defeating the replicators," Delek explained.

"That's great news!" O'Neill exclaimed.

"It is not," Delek countered. "This weapon was built by the Ancients. It is not only capable of destroying the replicators but also all life in the galaxy."

"That's awful news!" O'Neill backtracked. "Ba'al's got his finger on the trigger of a Halo and we don't have an Ark."

"I don't follow," Delek said, confused.

"It's from a video game," Sam explained. "I didn't know you played them, sir."

"I never used to. But that rat bastard Bill got me addicted." Jack paused. "Right then, back to business."

"Well as we all know, there's only one person- thing- in the galaxy that can survive this kind of weapon," Daniel added. "We thought he was long gone, but Anubis may be back."

"Anubis," O'Neill muttered.

"Actually, Ba'al doesn't have to survive the destruction of the galaxy," Sam objected. "The Trust stole plans for an intergalactic hyperdrive and built a functioning unit. It's very possible that Ba'al intends to run to Pegasus or another galaxy."

"Well he hasn't done it yet, so it must be a kind of last resort," Jacob suggested. "Any idea where this weapon is?"

Delek answered simply, "Dakara."

"No," Jack said, in disbelief.

"Why not? The goa'uld built their empire on top of the Ancients," Daniel said. "It is very possible that Dakara was part of that."

"Our mission has become even more important," Bra'tac added. "We must take Dakara before Ba'al can use the weapon."

"No shit, Sherlock," Jack said. "Teal'c, Bra'tac-"

"We will stimulate the rebellion, take a shot at our last chance of freedom," Teal'c said intensely.

"Daniel, Carter-"

"Mission planning," Sam acknowledged. "On it, sir."

"Other Carter-"

"I guess we do the same thing we always did," the other Carter replied. "Play Agency."

"Thor-"

"We cannot contribute significantly to this operation. I am sorry, O'Neill."

"Well, it was worth a shot. I'll make some phone calls."

"Sir, what do we do when we find the weapon?" Sam asked.

"We find a way to make it not kill everything, and if that doesn't work, we destroy it."

_AES _Athena

"Relax, Somers, you've done almost the exact same thing before," Captain Roberts said to the journalist on her team. The team sat on the floor of the _Athena_'s hangar, gathering with several other teams. Also in the hangar were several vehicles and a handful of fighters.

"I know, but- what are you doing to your gun?" Roberts was removing the grenade launcher from her rifle.

The Captain held up the rifle. "This? Oh, I'm swapping the grenade launcher for an M12A. Brand new, it's an automatic underbarrel shotgun. I heard we might be going after some bugs."

"Bugs?"

"Replicators," Roberts explained. "Nasty little robots that make more nasty little robots."

"Bloody joint operations," Sergeant Lewis complained. "Last time we ended up doing all the work."

"Relax. This is their home turf, and the goa'uld are weak," Roberts said. "Just stay behind the Jaffa."

"Standby for hyperspace deceleration," the intercom announced shortly before a lurching motion. There was a noticeable shudder as the main mass driver was fired, but none of the quaking typically caused by incoming weapons fire.

"Really weak, apparently," she continued. "All right, time to load up. We're in number three."

They piled into a waiting A-3, where a somewhat more famous team waited for them. "Guess we're working with you again, ma'am," Captain Roberts said, saluting. "It's an honour, as always."

Colonel Carter returned the salute. "Just wish it could be under better circumstances. But it's simple math. You're a five person team, we're a three person team- two today, actually. There's eight seats in an A-3."

"Better buckle up," the pilot interrupted. "This could be a rough ride."

The pilot started the engines on the A-3, made one final check and taxied toward the flight deck doors. The craft was positioned carefully against what looked like an angled piece of metal supported by coils, then suddenly flung forward and out of the launch bay.

_Dakara_

O'Neill's voice rang over the radio. "Freedom flight, you're going after the other death gliders. Alpha, Delta, land your troops near the stargate so we can force it open. Snakeskinners, you're flying Wild Weasel this time around."

The A-3 shook violently as it transitioned to atmospheric flight, atmospheric friction acting on the shielding and not directly on the hull. Nevertheless, the fiery effect was as impressive as ever. It was over as soon as it began, breaking through to a cloudless sky dark as the night. The capital of Dakara below burned in places, with sporadic explosions caused by bombing. The pilot took the spacecraft in hard, bringing it to a landing near the stargate.

"You know, I've had worse landings in training," Captain Roberts spat. "No flak, no missiles, no nothing."

"Save the comments," Colonel Carter said. "Form up on me, move out!"

The stargate was out in the open, and poorly guarded. A contingent of around a dozen Jaffa, equipped with a single staff cannon (pointed toward the gate) made up the defence. They were cut down within seconds by the AESF forces that had just landed. Above them, the first Rebel Jaffa began landing on Tel'taks.

"Foxtrot team, blow the shields," Carter ordered. "Alpha, Bravo, Charlie and Delta squads on me. Echo and Golf, with the Jaffa. Move it!"

The city was typical goa'uld fare- buildings that would be at home in ancient times, concealing advanced technology within. The construction was largely of stone, and the whole place was dirty. The temple was badly eroded, looking somewhat like a human figure but perhaps something else entirely. It was only metres away from

Intermixed with the heavily armoured AESF units were the Rebel Jaffa, most carrying Kalashnikov pattern rifles and wearing either traditional clothing or BDUs, most with Interceptor-SG vests. Despite O'Neill's protests, Teal'c had decided to wear the latter. He stood at the front of the Rebel Jaffa army.

Loyalist Jaffa had garrisoned the temple, with poor emulations of Earth-inspired defences. These included a form of barbed wire, stylized tank traps, and staff cannon nests that bore down mercilessly on the attackers. They were learning.

"Take out those nests!" Carter ordered as one of the powerful blasts ate into her shields. "Suppress the enemy positions!"

Behind them, the tanks had taken up positions, and began raking the temple with machine gun fire. It was an old building, and they were afraid to use the cannons in such close proximity to friendlies.

Carter and her team soon found themselves up against a low ridge with concertina wire or a close lookalike of it blocking their path. That type of wire was nasty. It was difficult to destroy and tended to cut unprotected things to ribbons. Staff blasts and bullets continued to fly all around them. "Captain Roberts! Take my torpedo and blow that wire!"

"Yes, ma'am!" Captain Roberts extracted a long, thin silver tube from Carter's pack and shoved it under the wire. "Fire in the hole!"

The device was a Bangalore Blade, a newer development of the classic Bangalore torpedo. It used an explosively formed penetrator to rip through barbed wire, concertina wire and other obstacles. In addition, the blast was sufficient to detonate nearby land mines. In this case, it was not different. A fair sized section was utterly obliterated, and the two SG teams rushed through.

It was maybe a hundred metres to the temple, but it might as well have been a million. The goa'uld had a new weapon, and it was nasty. Similar in principle to a Nordenfelt or Gatling gun, it was basically several staff weapons mounted to a single frame and synchronized to fire in sequence.

"What the fuck is that?" someone female yelled as it began ripping into their forces. The AESF soldiers were reasonably well protected by their armour, which also made them a priority target. The Jaffa were taking it much worse, one falling right beside Carter.

"A machine gun, fire in the hole!" Carter yelled as she "cooked" a grenade and tossed it toward the gunner. Shrapnel ripped through the Jaffa, taking out the gun at least for the moment. She dropped the magazine out of her rifle and slammed in a hundred-round C-mag as she ran.

So close to the objective, and another line of wire, this time barbed wire, stood in their way. Carter had no time to observe the irony of the situation. "Cut through that wire, we'll cover you!"

Sergeant Lewis and Corporal Chazan began slicing through the wire with plasma cutters as the others lay down covering fire. They carefully pushed the wire out of the way as they cut, their armour protecting them from the heat and sharp barbs. Nearby, other squads were doing the same thing, and the Jaffa joined in, hosing the temple with long bursts from the AKs.

"We're through. Go, go!" Colonel Carter ordered. As she said it, a staff blast collapsed the last of her shields. They were almost there! A group of loyalist Jaffa began shooting at them, but were ripped apart before she could even raise her rifle. She tried the door. It was made of wood, but locked and too sturdy to kick open.

"Breaching charges, detonate on my go!" she ordered. There were only three entrances, and that was a bottleneck. As soon at Brown had planted the charge, she readied a flashbang. "Alpha, ready."

"Bravo, ready!"

"Echo, ready!"

"Breaching breaching!" she yelled, tossing the flashbang through the remains of the door and rushing in.

The temple was relatively small on the inside, with all three entrances leading to a decent sized antechamber. Several Jaffa were inside, stunned by the flashbangs. Carter gunned one down at point blank, splashing her once-pristine armour with blood. The rest were ripped up quickly.

The unmistakable clumping sound of a Kull Warrior interrupted their victory. Two emerged from a door in the back of the room, firing their powerful plasma repeaters. Sam dived to the floor, one shot grazing her armour. She activated the Kull disruptor on her rifle and fired. Within seconds, the Kull were being hit with everything they had. The Kull disruptors were totally ineffective, but the sheer volume of fire overwhelmed the Kull. They dropped to the ground, dead from blunt force trauma.

"Room clear!" Carter shouted when she was sure that the armoured warriors were dead.

"Echo, Charlie, upstairs. The rest of you, defend this position!" Colonel Carter ordered. She took up a position behind one of the doors, dragging a table into position as combination barricade and cover.

The counterattack she was expecting, however, didn't come. "Charlie, Delta, Foxtrot, Golf, check in."

"Golf here, us an' the Jaffa have secured our section."

"Delta, position secure. Taking stock of casualties and POWs."

"Charlie, all cleaned up. The civilians are a little scared, though."

"Foxtrot, I can't believe it, we've won!"

"It is over, Colonel Carter," Teal'c said, coming up beside her. Though he was dirty and a bit scratched up, Teal'c was largely unharmed.

"No, Teal'c," Bra'tac countered. "It has only begun."

"How so, Master Bra'tac? Have we not secured the temple of Dakara?"

"Yes, but the true challenge is to hold it. Nobody will even remember the rebellion that held the temple for five minutes."

"Uh, that might be a problem," O'Neill said over the communications net. "We're picking up two big motherfucking fleets headed straight at us."

"As I said, old friend, the true challenge is to hold the temple," Bra'tac repeated.

"Then we will do so, or die trying."

_Stargate Command_

"Unauthorized offworld activation!" Sergeant Harriman announced.

"What is it?" Colonel Reynolds, temporary commander of the SGC, asked.

"I'm not sure-" A hologram of a Chinese-looking man in exquisite Asian dress appeared in the gateroom.

"Yu," Reynolds said, heading down to the gateroom.

"Where is General O'Neill?" Yu asked.

"General O'Neill is away at the moment. I'm Colonel Reynolds, currently in command of this base."

"You recently attacked Dakara, a most holy place." Yu said with more than a little distaste.

"I am not at liberty to discuss that, sir."

"I do not wish confrontation, I am offering assistance. You are in no position to hold the planet against Ba'al's forces or the replicators."

"What are you saying?"

"My... partners and I are willing to assist in the defence of Dakara."

"May I ask why?"

"For some time, now, we have opposed Ba'al. Right now he is weak, and we are aware of the weapon hidden on the planet. It cannot be allowed to fall into Ba'al's hands!"

"What kind of assistance?"

"A significant force of Ha'tak and contingents of Jaffa."

"I'll pass it on to General O'Neill."

"Do not delay," Yu said as the hologram faded away.

Colonel Reynolds ran back up to the control room. "Prepare to send a subspace message, one time encryption, FLASH priority."

_AES Athena_

"General, a subspace message just came in," the communications officer told him. "FLASH priority from the SGC." He passed General O'Neill a printout.

He read it. "Hmm, has to be a catch." He thought about it for a moment. "Tell him yes. Maybe they'll kill each other."

"Uh, I didn't read the message, sir. It's eyes-only for you."

"Right, sorry. Send this," O'Neill began composing a message.

_Dakara_

Teal'c showed Daniel and Sam to the wall. "We found no evidence of a weapon. However, this is the writing of the Ancients."

Daniel examined the wall. "Hmm. This writing might help us decipher the location of the weapon. If it's still here, that is.""

"It is strange. Before I saw this, I did not believe Dakara was once home to the Ancients," Teal'c commented.

"Well, we did find an Ancient repository in a similar monument," Sam mentioned.

"I must coordinate the defence of Dakara. I wish you both good luck," Teal'c said before leaving.

"Midday the darkness is high in the sky," Daniel read. "The wind blows on the pillow."

"That doesn't make any sense," Sam commented. She couldn't read Ancient, but her suit computers were capable of limited translation. She was right beside an expert on the language, so she disabled the annoying overlay.

"It is an old dialect," Daniel shrugged. "This could take a while."

_AES Athena_

Despite objections from some Rebel Jaffa, the _Athena_ had become the command vessel. It was much better equipped than any of the Ha'tak for such duties. Teal'c, Bra'tac, O'Neill and several other rebel leaders gathered in the CIC. A tactical map showing the positions of their ships was projected on the main holographic display.

"All right, what have we got?" O'Neill asked, starting the discussion.

"Resistance on the planet has all but been extinguished," Teal'c said. "Many Jaffa were already on the verge of rebellion."

"Ba'al's fleet numbers several dozen vessels," Bra'tac added. "It is less than an hour away."

"I'm picking up three vessels dropping out of hyperspace, Asgard O'Neill class," the sensor officer suddenly reported. The corresponding ships appeared on the tactical display. Seconds later, Jacob/Selmak and a hologram of Thor appeared in the CIC.

"Glad you guys could make it," O'Neill greeted. "I take it you hitched a ride with Thor?" Jacob nodded, but said nothing.

"The replicator fleet is about two of your hours away," Thor mentioned. "Have you had any progress in locating the weapon?"

"Not yet," O'Neill replied. "Can't you scan the planet and find it that way?"

"We could try, but it is doubtful they will be able to penetrate Ancient shielding."

"All right, let's focus on the threat at hand," General O'Neill said. "We've got about sixty of Ba'al's ships heading straight towards us. What do we have to throw at them?"

"Five Ha'tak, eight Al'kesh and ten squadrons of death gliders," one of the Jaffa said. "That is all we have."

"The Tok'ra can provide maybe a few Al'kesh and a handful of gliders," Jacob added. "We're not really a military force."

"As you are aware, we have delegated the Yggdrasil, Mjolnir, and Valhalla," Thor stated. "Reinforcements are not available."

"And we've got the Athena, Daedalus, and Prometheus, with fighter wings," Jack finished. "The Athena can shred Ha'tak, but Prometheus is a prototype and Daedalus is almost exclusively a missile boat."

Jacob suppressed a chuckle. "What's so funny?" Jack asked.

"You called it a missile boat. These navy guys must be rubbing on to you more than I thought."

"Yes, well, it's an occupational hazard," O'Neill continued. "Oh, and Yu may be sending some of his ships."

"Is this madness?" one of the Jaffa, Aron, questioned.

"Hey, I said might," O'Neill added. "He's double crossed us before."

"You would allow forces of a false god to fight alongside us?"

"Think of it this way," General O'Neill countered. "We get to watch them kill each other."

"Aron," Bra'tac interrupted, ending the discussion. "We need all the help we can get." Aron grumbled, but deferred to the older master.

"So, what's the plan?"

"We must split our forces," Teal'c said. "Place a group between Ba'al's fleet and the planet, and hide the rest behind the moon."

"And smash his fleet between them," O'Neill finished. "You know, T, that generally works better when your fleet is actually capable of smashing the other one to pieces."

"The Asgard vessels will be very effective against Ba'al's fleet," Thor said. "As will the Athena."

"I don't like these odds," General O'Neill argued. "I mean, there's sixty of them and a dozen of us. Plus the replicator fleet coming in behind them. And Yu probably isn't going to show up."

"Are not the odds always against us, O'Neill?" Teal'c asked.

"I suppose so. Let's give 'em hell."

_Dakara_

"Three days to the chicken?" Sam asked.

"That's what it says, but it doesn't make any sense," Daniel replied.

"What if it's some sort of code?" Sam asked.

"Yeah, are we supposed to look at it sideways."

Sam mentally kicked herself for not noticing it before. "These circles," she mentioned. Engraved into the wall were several circles, possibly dividing it into sections. "Any idea what they do?"

"You could try spinning them," Daniel suggested, not looking up from his notes. "I don't know if it'll do you any good, though."

"Well, it's worth a shot." There was no edges to grip, so Sam pushed her fingers into the engraved text. She turned it gently, not wanting to break something thousands of years old.

"Sun," Daniel said.

"What?"

"Sun. Right side up it's 'darkness'. Turn it around and it translates into 'sun'," Daniel explained.

"Midday the sun is high in the sky. That makes a lot more sense," Sam noted. "It can't be that simple."

"It's a code, only some have to be turned," Daniel observed. He paused in thought and flipped through his notebook. "Try the first, fourth and fifth ones."

Sam turned the circles, and as soon as she did so the place began to shake. "Let's just hope that's not a bad sign." She held up her hand, stopping the Jaffa that rushed in to see what was going on.

The wall slid open, revealing another set of doors inside, which also opened. Inside was a moderate sized room dominated by a central control console. The console was engraved with Ancient writing. Carter touched the console, and a display lit up on the far side of the room.

"We're in business."

_AES _Athena

"Picking up hyperspace windows- fifty-nine Ha'tak class vessels dropping out of hyperspace," the sensor officer reported. The new arrivals showed up on the tactical display immediately.

"Bring the fleet to battle stations," O'Neill ordered.

"Sound battle stations!" Colonel Sidorova ordered. "Ready the main weapon for firing in all respects."

"Battle stations, battle stations, all hands to battle stations," the loudspeaker announced over a chorus of activity.

"Sir, ma'am, intercepting a transmission."

"Put it on," O'Neill ordered.

"-thetic trickery will only delay your inevitable defeat," Ba'al- or his voice, at least- gloated.

"There is no trickery," Teal'c replied. "We know that inevitably your goal is to eradicate all free Jaffa. We have sent the bulk of our fleet to safety to survive to fight another day."

"Surrender now, or be destroyed!" Ba'al insisted.

"We would rather be destroyed than enslaved again by a false god," Teal'c shot back.

"Ba'al has stopped transmitting, sir," the sensor officer replied. "His fleet is moving to engage Task Force Alpha."

"He's going for it," O'Neill said. "Tango Foxtrot Bravo, move to engage the enemy."

"All ahead flank!" Colonel Sidorova ordered. "Fire at will!"

The reserve fleet quickly revealed itself, launching an intial volley of nuclear missiles, tungsten slugs, plasma bolts and ion cannon fire at Ba'al's fleet. Before they could even fire back, several ships were destroyed or disabled, with more ships damaged to varying degrees. Of course, the goa'uld motherships began firing back immediately, the surprise attack now a slugging match.

_F-302B over Dakara_

Major Cameron "Shaft" Mitchell brought his F-302B into a tight turn, heading straight toward the goa'uld fleet. The B variant of the F-302 was a significant overhaul. The original F-302 was larger and heavier than the newer F-306, but slower, short-ranged and underarmed. Retiring the F-302 was considered, but it would be a waste of several expensive and perfectly fine spaceframes. All of the original engines were removed and replaced with two outboard hybrid scramjets and an Asgard designed neutrino-ion drive. The landing gear was revised to prevent dangerous wingtip strikes and more hardpoints were added. Removal of the massive main booster allowed an internal weapons bay to be added, as well as more fuel for the more-efficient engines. In addition to the weapons bay and hardpoints, the original two railguns were retained The hyperdrive was replaced with a functioning design, giving the F-302B FTL capability, and the cockpit was completely redone. The end result was a heavy fighter that complemented the F-306 rather than be outclassed by it.

To Mitchell that meant the machine was just that much deadlier. It responded to every minute control input, and the inertial dampeners provided just a bit of bleed-through feedback. Mitchell jinked the craft around as plasma bolts flew toward them.

"All fighters, open fire now, now, now!" O'Neill ordered.

Mitchell selected the large M-47 Hades nuclear missile and disengaged the safety. The Hades carried a respectable half-gigaton warhead and had sufficient range and speed to hit the Sun from Earth in a reasonable timeframe. "Bravo Three, fox four!"

A barrage of missiles streaked from the Earth-built fighters as Tok'ra and Rebel Jaffa vessels opened fire with their plasma cannons. One of the missiles Cameron fired was programmed to lock onto groups of targets. It found a trio of death gliders in formation with an Al'kesh and flew into it, the explosion destroying all four ships. The other was programmed to simply head for a capital ship not broadcasting a friendly IFF. It just happened to hit Ba'al's flagship, taking some strength out of the shield but not dealing a death blow by any means. Nuclear explosions from other missiles blanketed the goa'uld fleet, taking out more ships and utterly decimating the fighter force.

Suddenly, small lance-shaped projectiles streaked from the goa'uld vessels. Mitchell immediately recognized them for what they were. "Inbound missiles, break break break!"

He threw his F-302B hard to the right as a missile streaked by where his fighter had been only moments earlier. His wingmate was not so lucky- the missile slammed right into the right-side intake and blew the engine and outer wing off.

"Poor bastards," Captain Irena Volkova remarked from the back seat. She was Mitchell's CSO, or combat systems officer. "More missiles!"

A second barrage, this one from death gliders, flew toward them, and Mitchell pulled the craft hard to the left, countermeasures flying from the rear fuselage. The missile went for it and exploded harmlessly in a cloud of chaff. "Gotta work on their guidance," he commented. "Bravo Three, fox two!"

Two more missiles streaked from the F-302B, this time Star Streak/F units designed to track and kill enemy fighters. Both found targets and eliminated them. The death gliders had expended their missiles and were now down to staff cannons. They weren't much of a threat, but Mitchell still had to be careful. The blasts were powerful and would decimate his small fighter. They were now in dogfighting territory, and he still had four Sidewinders to burn.

_AES _Athena

"What's our status?" O'Neill questioned.

"Shields holding at fifty five percent," Major Marks reported. "Mass driver and missile tubes are currently reloading."

"I meant the fleet," O'Neill corrected.

Marks replied, "One rebel Ha'tak has been destroyed, the Asgard battlecruiser Valhalla has taken heavy damage and pulled back. Prometheus reports shields weakening but holding."

"I meant the other fleet." A bit of humour was important, even- no, especially- at a time like this.

"Seven Ha'tak destroyed, four more disabled and five severely damaged," Marks reported. "They are concentrating fire on the Asgard battlecruisers." The Athena rocked as staff cannons impacted the shields. "And us."

"Sir, Ba'al's forces are attempting to land on the planet!" the sensor officer reported.

"Divert fighters, take out those transports!" O'Neill ordered. "And patch me through to Bra'tac and Carter."

"You're on, sir."

"Bra'tac, Carter, you're about to get company! Ba'al is sending loaded transports down to the planet."

_Dakara_

"Roger that!" Carter acknowledged. Her laptop was now connected to the control console and displaying some kind of waveform.

"Well, I'm glad you've got that working, but where do we go from here?" Daniel asked, unconcerned about the battle raging above.

"The weapon tears apart matter at the molecular level," Sam explained. "It uses a precisely modulated wave of exotic energy, strong enough to wipe the surface of a planet but not destroy it. I think we can modify it to put out a wave that only destroys replicators."

"Well, the replicator disruptor was an Ancient design," Daniel said. "Wouldn't a weapon that can only destroy the planet it's on be kind of useless, though?"

"Through the ring and to the stars," Sam read. "I think what they're saying is that the wave propagates through the stargate. If we do this right, we can get the entire galaxy at once."

Daniel Jackson immediately caught on. "By dialling every gate at the same time."

"Exactly," Sam confirmed. "The problem is, there are only two people I know of who could do that. One of them is our arch enemy-"

"Ba'al," Daniel guessed. "Don't tell me the other one is-"

_Stargate Command_

"Doctor Felger!" Colonel Reynolds called, entering his lab.

The man was clearly absorbed in something, and Reynolds startled him. He accidentally dragged a screwdriver across whatever overcomplicated device he was working on, shorting it out and causing a pop and small fire. "Damn it!"

"Sorry, doctor, but you're urgently needed," Reynolds continued. "Something about modifying a stargate. Pack what you need, get suited up and report to the gateroom in ten minutes."

"Ten minutes!" Felger complained. "But it would take me longer than that to-"

"Then I suggest you get moving."

_Dakara_

Colonel Carter's father appeared in a flash of light. "Hi, kiddo," he greeted. Sam's armour made it impossible to kiss her cheek, unfortunately. A hug would have to do.

"Hi, dad, it's-" Another figure, this one much smaller and clearly alien, appeared. "Hello, Thor."

"Colonel Carter," he greeted.

"Alright, the gist of it is this," Colonel Carter explained. She pointed at her laptop. "We have a waveform that looks like this. We need it to look like this, within at least point seven six percent. I wish I could help, but-" A large explosion rocked the building. "I'm commander of our ground forces and the goa'uld are here."

"Go, we can handle it," her father assured her. Sam left the room in a hurry, grabbing her SCAR-H rifle as she ran. Outside, they had somewhat repaired the old fortifications, patching the barbed wire and adding booby traps. Tanks lay concealed on the edges of the courtyard, ready to gun down whatever landed.

A triplet of Tel'tak dropped out of the sky, stopping in a hover to ring out their occupants. The tanks opened fire, destroying one and forcing the other two to land. Al'kesh flew overhead, dropping bombs on the barbed wire and tanks, with death gliders escorting them and F-306s chasing after both. Kull Warriors, mixed with standard Jaffa, poured onto the open courtyard.

"Open fire!" Carter yelled, bringing her own weapon to bear on the enemy. Bullets of all types rained down on the enemy, the Kull Warriors almost ignoring the hits and the Jaffa taking several before falling. They retaliated with much greater accuracy and more rapid fire than before, surprising the defenders. Claymore mines ripped into the goa'uld positions, but they were a one-shot weapon.

Beside Colonel Carter, Captain Roberts braced an Anzio Ironworks rifle against a knocked out portion of the wall. It was a truly massive weapon at seventy-seven pounds and closer to seven than six feet long, and looked hilarious when used by the small woman. The rifle was bolt action and held only three rounds- twenty millimetre cannon rounds. The colossal blast from the weapon would have deafened them if not for the hearing protection integrated in their helmets. The APDS round, designed to kill lightly armoured vehicles, ripped right through the armour on the Kull Warrior and continued to kill an unfortunate Jaffa standing behind. The recoil was immense, but didn't drive the armoured soldier back. "Wish we had more than one of these!" she remarked, working the huge bolt.

A Javelin antitank missile streaked into a Kull Warrior. Two down, a dozen more to go. As Carter was formulating that thought, more troops ringed down, opening fire on their position. She winced as a staff blast slammed into her shields. So far the attack wasn't too intense, but she had no idea how long that would last. She watched as the stargate activated. Damn it!

"Alpha, Bravo, push forward and secure the gate," she ordered. "Covering fire!"

A squad of clearly military personnel came through, along with one very nervous scientist. Bullets and plasma bolts flew through the air, the Tau'ri and Rebel Jaffa redoubling their efforts to secure the courtyard. Two of the tanks rolled in, crushing one Jaffa and several slower Kull. Above them, the enemy gliders and larger craft continued to be thinned out by endless hounding from Rebel Jaffa gliders and Tau'ri fighters.

"Felger, I need you to get working ASAP," Carter ordered. "We need that courtyard secure. Protect the stargate at all costs."

"You know, I don't work well when I'm being shot at!" the scientist commented.

"You'll do fine," Carter reassured him.

"And the temple?" Bra'tac asked over the comm link.

"We can hold this position, the stargate is a lot more open," she replied smoothly. "Daniel, Thor, Dad, how's the device going?"

"Slowly," her father replied.

"We have currently adjusted the device to a deviation of twelve percent," Thor answered in more detail.

"Keep working on it." Sam popped the magazine out of her rifle and slammed in a new one.

_AES _Athena

"Sir, new contacts- a whole lot of them. Mixed Ha'tak, replicator cruiser and unidentified vessels," the sensor officer reported. Around fifty new ships appeared on the tactical display, bearing down on their position.

O'Neill pressed a button on the console, patching him into the fleet communication network. "All units, concentrate fire on the new arrivals. Do not allow them to reach the planet, over."

"We will do what we can," Teal'c replied. "However our strength is dwindling. We have just lost another vessel." One of the Rebel Jaffa Ha'tak changed from green to black on the tactical display.

"Patch me through to Ba'al," General O'Neill ordered. The Athena shuddered as the replicators opened fire.

"Ah, O'Neill," Ba'al greeted. "Have you decided to surrender?"

"No," O'Neill replied. "Look, I don't like you and you don't like me, but we've got bigger fish to fry here."

"If you are suggesting an alliance of sorts, that is out of the question," Ba'al replied. He ended the transmission.

"That son of a bitch!" O'Neill swore.

"Sir, Ba'al is pulling his forces back- he's putting us between the replicators and his fleet!" the sensor officer replied.

"Keep us on him!" O'Neill ordered. More impacts rocked the ship.

"Shields down to thirty percent!" Marks observed. "They're concentrating fire on us!"

"Our mass driver presents the biggest threat," Lieutenant Colonel Sidorova said. "Come about, bring the main gun to bear on the replicator cruiser and fire at will, all batteries. Nuclear missiles on the replicator vessels, launch all tubes."

The ship shuddered again, this time with the firing of the massive main gun. Tungsten slugs streaked from the Athena, with nuclear missiles close behind. The massive slug slammed into the replicator cruiser, ripping through the shields and taking a chunk off. Other vessels began to close, taking the brunt of the secondary fire and nuclear missiles. In a single barrage, three infested Ha'tak and one spider ship had been destroyed. The rest of the fleet continued to divide their fire between Ba'al's fleet and the replicators, forming a deadly triangle. The Valhalla, already damaged from the initial engagement, succumbed to the incoming fire. Aegir was beamed out only moments before the ship went up in a ball of flame.

"Three spider ships have crossed the defensive line and are headed to the planet," the sensor officer reported.

"Damn it to hell!" O'Neill pounded his fist on the table. The ship rocked violently again, sending him sprawling to the floor. Beside him, the tactical display flickered ominously, but stayed operational.

"Report!" Colonel Sidorova ordered.

"Three hits at once!" Marks replied. "Shields at twelve percent, number three sublight engine offline and main gun is out of action. We have hull breaches and have been boarded!"

"Security teams to the hull breaches!" the captain ordered. "Take us in close, open fire with all batteries including lasers, hold fire on missiles. Evasive manoeuvres, all engines to war emergency power."

General O'Neill signalled the fleet again. "All units, follow us in. Give 'em everything you've got."

_Ha'tak _Righteous Justice

"Acknowledged, O'Neill," Teal'c replied. He piloted the ship around, the gunner in front of him pounding at any enemy ship in range with everything they had left. He realized what they were doing. One last suicide charge. He'd done it before.

"Shields are failing!" one of his comrades reported as incoming weapons fire rocked the ship. "We can't take many more hits!"

Gunfire rang out across the ship. They had long since been boarded, through hull breaches, beaming or the rings he did not know. It was all they could do to keep them from key systems. Full of holes, with half the engines gone and power conduits blown to pieces, the _Righteous Justice_ would never seem combat again even if she survived the battle.

_Dakara_

Felger and his escorts beat a hasty retreat to the temple, covered by the Tau'ri and Rebel Jaffa forces. The tanks had been self-destructed when the replicators rained down and many of the defenders had been overwhelmed. Many of them, especially the lightly armoured Jaffa, had been killed. Bullets rained down onto the courtyard as replicators climbed toward the temple. Two spider ships had landed and were streaming out a near-constant supply of the little mechanical bugs.

"How long?" Carter asked over the radio. She had abandoned her SCAR in favour of a heavier M240, firing it from the shoulder in a half-crouch. Shell casings littered the ground around her. The barbed wire and sandbags were an obstacle to Jaffa, but not replicators, and they streamed right past the defences, held back only by a steady barrage of gunfire.

Jacob Carter was the only one still working on the device, the others having left to help defend the temple, or in Thor's case the planet. "Just a few more minutes!"

"We may not have a few more minutes!" Sam replied. Her M240 clicked back, the belt feed completely run through. She had neither time to change the belt nor a fresh belt to fire. Dropping the weapon, she picked up an RPD light machine gun from beside a dead Jaffa.

"We're running out of ammo, ma'am!" Captain Roberts reported. Her massive rifle had been tossed away in favour of more standard SCAR-H.

"I know! We've got to hold them off, even if it comes down to hand-to-hand!"

_AES _Athena

"Righteous Justice reports shields down. They're going in for a suicide run!"

"Beam the crew off!" O'Neill ordered.

"Got them!" the bridge officer replied shortly before the Ha'tak crashed into another and exploded, wrecking both ships.

A powerful blast rocked the Athena, sending him to the floor. With the shields so weak, more and more was leaking through. The holographic tactical display fuzzed out and died. The lights flickered and smoke poured into the compartment, never a good sign.

"Main power is offline!" someone yelled. "Engine four is gone!"

Another voice. "Primary fire control is offline, number four turret is out of action!"

"Switch to auxiliary power!" Colonel Sidorova ordered, picking herself up. She held a hand to her arm, bleeding from a long scratch. "Secondary fire control, switch life support to independent."

This was not good. The Athena was in bad shape, and the other ships only had it worse. Half their fleet was already gone, and though Ba'al's fleet was also getting it's ass kicked, the replicators showed no signs of stopping.

"Picking up hyperspace windows," Marks reported, pushing the dead sensor officer out of the way. "Looks like about two dozen Ha'tak. Hailing us."

"Put it on!" O'Neill ordered.

The familiar voice of Emperor Yu sputtered from the loudspeakers. "This is Emperor Yu. I am prepared to render assistance."

"Emperor? That's a nice title."

"Yes. Do you have any specific instructions?"

"Attack the replicators!" O'Neill ordered.

Seeing the new threat, the replicators diverted to concentrate fire on Yu's forces. The new arrivals opened fire immediately and death gliders streamed from the motherships. The replicators opened fire a moment later. It was a plain and simple slugging match, and the replicators would win. It would buy them some time, at least.

"Hit 'em with everything we've got!" O'Neill ordered. Missiles streaked from the Tau'ri ships, energy bolts from the Asgard and Jaffa vessels.

He hoped it would be enough.

_Dakara_

Colonel Carter tossed the RPD away and drew her pistol, firing into the endless line of replicators. The explosives were all used up, and she wasn't the only one down to a pistol. The replicators themselves had crept closer and closer and were now almost through the doors. "We need that weapon and we need it right now!"

"Got it!" the elder Carter yelled. He didn't hesitate to activate it, slamming his fist down on the activation button. There would be no second chance. If it didn't work, they would all be dead in minutes.

The stargate activated first, seemingly impossibly dialling every capable stargate in the galaxy at once. It required an immense amount of energy, and could not be sustained for more than a minute. The weapon activated next.

The top of the temple began unfurling, shaking the building in a most unsettling manner. The dome split into four parts, revealing a glowing blue ball of energy. A dome extended, pushing the gathering discharge upwards. Moments later, the wave was released from containment and pushed outwards. As it flooded past the replicators, they disintegrated into inert piles of dust. The wave propagated through the stargate and proceeded to eradicate replicators on the other side of galaxy.

It also extended into orbit. The replicators ships simply vanished into dust, ripped apart at the molecular level. With nothing to control them, the infested vessels simply stopped in their tracks. Yu's fleet turned it's attention towards the remaining handful of ships belonging to Ba'al. Crippled, they quickly fell to the new onslaught.

_Ba'al's Flagship_

"My lord, our fleet is being decimated," Ba'al's First Prime reported.

Ba'al took it in stride. "And the replicators?"

"All replicator controlled vessels are dormant."

"So be it. Drop the cloak and take us into hyperspace."

"As you wish, my lord."

_AES _Athena

"Sir, picking up a new contact," Major Marks reported. "Signature matches the ship found at the Trust headquarters!"

"Take it out!" O'Neill ordered.

Marks shook his head. "Too late, sir. It's gone into hyperspace."

"Damn," General O'Neill breathed. "Status on the replicator fleet?"

"Dormant, sir."

"And Yu's fleet?"

"Holding position- wait, they're starting to enter hyperspace."

"Leaving without saying goodbye?" O'Neill said with mock gravity. "Crazy old bastard."

He tried keying the communications net again, only to find it didn't work. "Can you patch me into the fleet and the ground teams?"

"One moment, sir," Marks paused. "You're on."

"Alliance fleet, what's your status?" O'Neill asked.

"We've lost primary power and the hyperdrive and taken some structural damage, but we should be able to limp our way back to Earth in a few hours," Colonel Pendergast reported from the Prometheus.

"This is Colonel Steven Caldwell of the Daedalus. Shields are offline and we've taken some hull damage, but our hyperdrive is still online."

"This is Ishta of the Jaffa Rebellion. Two Ha'tak are remaining, one is heavily damaged. Our gliders and Al'kesh have nearly been wiped out."

"The Tok'ra have sustained minimal losses," a distorted voice reported. Figures.

"The Valhalla has been destroyed," Thor reported. "We were able to beam Aegir off. The Yggdrasil has sustained hull damage and the Mjolnir has lost primary power."

"The Rebel Jaffa have taken heavy casualties," Bra'tac reported. "But we prevailed in the end."

"Most of our vehicles are gone, and we lost a few people holding the gate," Carter said sadly. "SG-1 is fine, in case you were wondering."

General O'Neill leaned against a console and took a deep breath. It wasn't an easy fight, but they won.

_Stargate Command_

It had been two weeks since the Battle of Dakara. Even though it wasn't totally declassified, a studio had already announced the development of a movie. Typical. Meanwhile, the Prometheus and Athena limped their way back to Earth.

"You are late, O'Neill," Teal'c announced as he entered the briefing room.

"Yeah, I had to do some paperwork," O'Neill lied as he sat down. He had actually been looking up the Battle of Dakara movie on the internet. "How's the rebellion going?"

"Bra'tac sends his regards," Teal'c replied. "The victory at Dakara was every bit the turning point we were hoping for. Jaffa from everywhere in the goa'uld empire flock to our ranks."

"Well, viva la revolution," O'Neill joked. "Ba'al giving you any trouble?"

"A sizable fleet stands guard over Dakara," Teal'c explained. "The weapons you have provided will go far in aiding our defence."

"So, the Jaffa might finally win their freedom. What about the replicators?"

"As far as we can tell, they're gone," Carter replied.

"Which just leaves one itty bitty little issue," O'Neill added. "Ba'al is getting his ass kicked here. Ba'al has a ship capable of leaving the galaxy. And Ba'al knows where Atlantis is. I think he might be going to Vegas."

"Sir?" Carter questioned.

"Jack, I'm not one to judge, but this is hardly a time for jokes," Daniel echoed. Teal'c merely raised an eyebrow.

"Okay, bad timing. The point is, we have no idea what state the expedition is in, and Ba'al is headed straight for them."

* * *

Bit of a cliffhanger there. 1x18 Inbound is on its way, so stay tuned!


	23. S1E18 Inbound

This is a hack job. I'm not exactly happy with it, but I want to move on. I'm thinking that after I finish writing Season 1, I'll go back and fix some things, then release it along with some art, side articles, logo and new trailer as a Director's Cut. Spacebattles exclusive, of course. Oh, and there's a semi-major character death. We're going in gritty, and we're going in dark.

* * *

"So, where are we off to today?" Major John Sheppard asked as his team assembled in the gateroom. Quietly, he checked his gear. Armour diagnostics... okay. Desert Eagle pistol loaded and put in hip holster with safety on. SCAR-H loaded with a round in the chamber, selector on safe.

"Dagan," Dr. Rodney McKay replied. "It's the place we found in the database that supposedly has a ZPM. ATL-15 scouted it out, it's safe and better yet, they found archaeological evidence of the ZPM."

Sheppard nodded. "Oh, that's pretty neat."

"You should know this! I mean seriously, do you not listen to the briefings at all?"

Sheppard just smiled.

* * *

_Dagan_

A woman dressed in purple greeted the team as soon as they crossed the event horizon. "I am Allina. On behalf of the people of Dagan, I welcome you."

"We're honoured," Sheppard replied kindly. "So, tell me about this Potentia thing." Rodney looked up in surprise. Sheppard _had_ paid attention, after all.

"The Quindosim, or the Brotherhood of Fifteen, was entrusted with this treasure by the Lanteans many ages ago," Allina explained, leading them away from the stargate. "Their greatest fear was that their entire order would be culled by the Wraith, leaving the Potentia to go missing forever."

"Missing, yes, but it would not fall into your enemy's hands," Teyla remarked.

"They were entrusted with the Potentia to keep it, not lose it. Their hope was that the Lanteans would one day return to reclaim it, and reward the Suderian people for completing their task."

"Suderian?" Lieutenant Ford asked. "I thought this is Dagan."

"The Suderian civilization has long been extinct, destroyed by the Wraith. With it, the Brotherhood was destroyed, and the location of the Potentia lost."

"Just because Rome was once the most powerful empire on Earth doesn't make us Romans," Sheppard whispered.

Allina led them inside what was probably once a magnificent castle, similar to those of Medieval Europe. Now, it was a ruin, with the turrets gone, walls crumbling, and wooden inner buildings long eroded away. The keep, however, was still standing. Inside, it was littered with books, scrolls and artifacts, presumably some kind of library or museum. "We believe they left hints and clues that would allow the Potentia to be rediscovered should the brotherhood be destroyed."

"Such as?" McKay asked.

A black-haried woman handed Allina three objects wrapped in cloth. Allina unwrapped the objects as she spoke. "The priests created nine stone markers that, when united, are supposed to reveal the final resting place of the Quindosim's protected treasure. So far we've only found three. The etchings suggest that they form a map."

"Interesting," McKay said.

"Yes," Sheppard agreed. "Looks like an Ancient numbering system.

Allina nodded. "That's what we thought. From what we can tell, they're numbers three, six, and seven."

"Hmm, that's excellent work," McKay complimented. "Where did you find them?"

"We found six and seven based on research of old documents. Number three was a lucky find on an unrelated excavation."

McKay looked at the stone. "Each of the stones has a part of the grid embossed." He took the stones and laid them out on the table. "

"Signifying where its correct place would be in the final configuration," Allina finished.

"Exactly," Rodney McKay confirmed.

"So what?" Ford asked.

"So what?" Rodney mocked. "Ugh. Do you have a map?"

Allina unrolled a map of surprisingly good quality on the table. The expedition team gathered around, most of them starting to get the idea. "All right, where did you find them?" Rodney asked.

As Allina pointed them out, Rodney labelled the map with a piece of charcoal. Using the numbered stones as a guide, he drew a grid on top of the map.

"They're buried in a grid," Rodney McKay explained. "Look, we couldn't have done this without the number three stone. That, along with the number seven stone, gave us two diagonally opposed corners. From that you can extrapolate how big the grid is, and from that where the other stones should be buried."

"All right, I'll call Weir and bring in one of the killdozers."

"An M313? Are you nuts?" McKay objected.

"Hey, if you want to dig up tons and tons of dirt by hand, be my guest."

* * *

_Atlantis_

Weir watched as the the M313 Combat Engineering Vehicle, better known as the "Killdozer", drove through the stargate. Based on the same chassis as the M301 and M302, it mounted a dozer blade, excavator, crane boom and winch in favour of heavy weaponry or a passenger compartment. It was also equipped with a powerful secondary reactor, subspace communications array and sensor system. Defence was provided by a single pintle-mounted M2HB machine gun. _What the hell was John getting himself into this time?_

She turned her attention to Dr. Zelenka, who was trying to restore a system damaged by a... coffee spill. Such mundane things did happen on Atlantis- and they tended to have extraordinary consequences. A new readout that they had never seen before popped up on the wall screen as Zelenka continued to mess with the computer system.

Dr. Zelenka spouted off some rapid-fire Czech, then switched to English. "What did you touch?"

"I didn't-" one of the scientists protested.

Zelenka silenced him. "I haven't seen this one before?"

"Looks almost like... deep space telemetry," the scientist guessed. The irony of that was lost on everyone in the room.

"Hmm, interesting," Zelenka commented. "It must have been running in the background all along."

"Well, obviously something activated it," Weir said, entering the discussion.

"Yeah, but I didn't do anything," the scientist insisted.

"Maybe something outside activated it," Weir suggested.

"Yes, that is possible. Try switching to LLE, it's slower but more accurate."

The scientist typed in the requisite commands. "Still nothing."

"Cycle through the interface protocols, maybe we have something that matches up."

The display on the computer suddenly changed, spitting out a stream of raw numerical data. A few more commands later, and it resolved into a three-dimensional representation of space.

"Oh, that's not good," Zelenka muttered, adding a few Czech swear words. "If I'm reading this right, we've got a Wraith dart heading straight for the city."

"A dart? How is that possible?" Weir questioned.

"Well, it may have been modified to get here quicker. Maybe it came through a neighbouring stargate and headed toward us at maximum speed."

"Why didn't we pick it up sooner?"

"Maybe it was outside the warning envelope, maybe we accidentally activated something after all," Zelenka guessed. "We really don't know how this system works."

"How far out is it?"

"At it's current velocity, it'll be here in twenty-seven minutes."

"Lock down the city and deploy security teams," Weir ordered. "Bring the surface-to-air missile batteries online and scramble a flight of fighters."

* * *

"Just like old times, eh?" Captain Gus "Lemon" Jackson (no relation) yelled to his squadron mates.

"Ninja" said nothing. "Reaper" muttered something under her breath.

"I was in junior high, asshole," "Fox" quipped.

"Lemon" climbed into his F-306 and started bringing its critical systems online. A quick scramble, and because of the way Atlantis was designed, and air-start too! A Chief strapped him in and made sure his Mk II Combat Flight Suit was connected to the air supply. Gus locked the helmet down over his head, completing the airtight seal. Seconds later, the crew chief gave him the thumbs up, and the canopy snapped down.

"Alpha One, this is Atlantis Control," Dr. Weir's voice chirped. "You are clear for takeoff, over. Good luck out there."

"Roger that," he replied. Engines-off vertical takeoffs sucked, especially in confined spaces. At the mercy of its antigrav units, the F-306 hovered slightly above the floor and creeped out until it was under the exit. Then "Lemon" gunned the antigrav, shooting the fighter up through the door. Thankfully, the ultramodern fighter could start its engines automatically. He pushed in both engine startup buttons, and was soon rewarded with the massive hybrid PDEs roaring to life.

After the Captain retracted his landing gear and sped away, his three wingmates came up behind, followed by three puddle jumpers.

"Alpha flight, bravo flight, form up on me," he ordered, pulling his craft around into an intercept vector.

"I'm a doctor, not a bloody fighter pilot!" Dr. Beckett said over the radio net.

"Keep it cool, bravo one-one, we'll be done in no time at all. Whoa, this guy is coming on hot! Bravo flight, stay back, alpha, launch streaks on my mark."

Gus watched carefully as the readout on his HUD counted down. "Three... two... one, mark! Alpha one, fox two!"

Four Star Streak missiles erupted from the fighters, vectoring straight for the Wraith vessel. It flew straight past them, the missiles unable to turn around and hit the fast-moving object.

"That bastard just went right past our missiles! Come around and go after them!" Captain Jackson felt the rush of acceleration as he pulled his fighter into a tight turn and slammed the throttle forward. "He's headed for the city!" The Wraith dart streaked between the towers of the city, emitting some kind of beam below it.

"What the hell is that thing doing?" Weir asked.

"Scanning us," Zelenka replied.

"I want that thing gone!"

"On it, ma'am," Gus replied. He switched to Sidewinders. At this close range...

A different missile streaked from within the city, slamming into the dart and ripping it to pieces. Inertia caused many of the pieces to keep accelerating, slamming into a tower and smashing out several windows. The flight of F-306s pulled up sharply to avoid crashing into it.

"Nice shot, guys," the pilot remarked. "Any more darts to take out?"

"Negative, you are to RTB immediately. Weir out." She breathed a sigh of relief. That was one thing over with.

* * *

_Dagan_

"Can you believe the progress we've made, Sanir?" Allina said to the other woman. In front of them, the M313 was digging up what would hopefully be the last piece of the puzzle. Behind them, other villagers had gathered to watch. "For many years, we have been searching for this."

Sanir sighed. "What's wrong.

"We should not be helping them, Allina," she hissed.

"They're helping us as much as we are helping them. With their help we have come closer than ever before!"

"They will take the Potentia if they find it. You must see that!"

"They have come to us from the great city of Atlantis!" Allina insisted. "It is for them that the Brotherhood of Fifteen had kept the treasure hidden."

Sanir shook her head. "I do not trust them, Allina."

They had no further opportunity for discussion. "Sir! I think I found something!" the driver of the M313 hollered. He backed the machine off and shut down the engine. "Doctor McKay, Allina, you may want to take a look at this!"

Gloved hands brushed away dirt, revealing a cover stone inscribed with the symbol of the brotherhood. Allina immediately pointed that out.

"It's in Ancient," Sheppard observed. "Only the Brotherhood of the Fifteen should enter the chamber-"

"-of the Quindosim," Allina finished.

"What chamber?" Teyla asked.

"Well, if I were to hazard a guess I think it would be under this stone," McKay suggested. "Major Sheppard, do you care to do the honours?"

"I'd love to," Sheppard replied. He dug his fingers under the stone, and with a mighty shove pushed it out of the way. Underneath was an opening to a very dark chamber. Lieutenant Ford cracked a handful of glowsticks and tossed them down. It was a decent drop.

"So, uh, who wants to go down first?" McKay asked nervously.

"Don't be such a wuss, McKay," Sheppard gently nudged the man toward the opening.

"Alright, I'll go, no problem." The scientist closed his eyes and hopped down. Though he didn't really feel the impact, he could certainly hear it. "Uh, seven hundred pound objects dropped into ten thousand year old chamber, maybe not such a good idea. I think we should use a rope or something."

Acastus Kolya watched the group descend into the hole using a spyglass. "We couldn't have planned it any better," he whispered to his men, also disguised as villagers.

"They're leaving one guy on top, plus the big vehicle and its crew. Isn't that going to be a problem?" Kolya's second in command, Pranos, asked.

"It is a small complication, but we can deal with it," the Genii leader replied. "Anti-vehicle weapons on my mark, take out both the man and the vehicle. Nobody fires a shot until I give the word."

"Yes, sir."

* * *

The chamber was dark and dreary, with filth and cobwebs everywhere. It was dominated by two things. The first was a pedestal with slots for the stone tablets, the second was an ornate carving directly opposite the pedestal.

Allina extracted the stones from her bag and laid them out on the pedestal. They fit perfectly into the slots, leaving only the centre open. "Do you see this? This is the whole pattern!"

"Well, it definitely rules out a map," Rodney commented. "The centre stone is missing."

There were two handprints, one on each side of the pedestal. He experimentally tried putting his hands on them, to no avail.

"Any ideas?" Sheppard asked.

"I'm getting-"

Sudden explosions above ground caused Shepard to rush under the opening. Above, anti-tank rockets slammed into the M313. Caught unawares with the shields down, the armour-piercing warheads ripped through the vehicle, rendering it useless. Another rocket to the crew hatch took care of them. Two of the very same rockets slammed into Lieutenant Ford's body, the sheer force tossing him like a ragdoll. The first warhead blasted away most of the trinium and carbon ceramic plating, the second shredded his ribcage. Lieutenant Ford was dead by the time he hit the ground.

"Ford!" Sheppard shouted. Who would have- who could have. "Kolya!"

"Major Sheppard," the familiar voice replied. "I'm afraid Lieutenant Ford has suffered a rather gruesome death." Acastus Kolya appeared in the hole, pointing a gun straight down at them.

"You're alive," Sheppard noted. "You know that gun won't do anything against-"

"No, but I can have my men seal you inside," he turned for a moment. "Or toss some explosives down there are bury you alive."

"What do you want?" Sheppard shouted.

"The same as you, Major. The lost treasure of the Quindosim."

"What possible use could that be to you?"

"The Daganians have informed us that this... ZPM, whatever it may be, is an object of great power," Kolya replied. "And great power is of use to all people. Especially the Genii."

"Sanir," Allina spat.

"The Genii told us they would let us keep the-" Allina slapped her across the face so hard it left a red mark.

"They're no use to you, Kolya," Sheppard continued. "ZPMs only work on Atlantis."

"Perhaps," Kolya said. "But I would prefer to hear it from a Genii scientist."

"We do not have it," Teyla added. "We have not yet located the ninth stone."

McKay backed her up. "Look, she's right. We know where the ninth stone is, but we don't have it. All we have is the gate address."

"Ah, Doctor McKay. Nice of you to join us."

"Look, lift me out of here and I'll help you find it, but then you let my team go!"

"McKay!" Sheppard quietly cautioned.

"Look, you got a better idea?" the scientist whispered. "Do we have a deal, or not?"

"No deal," Kolya shook his head. "I know what even one civilian with your equipment can do. But we will take the Daganian Allina. If she is able to retrieve the ZPM, we'll let you go."

"How can we trust you?" Sheppard shouted.

"You can't," Kolya replied. "All your weapons and radios are to be lifted out with the woman. Do not have any illusions, Major. You have no choice."

Sheppard polarized his faceplate so nobody would see him talking. "All right, we're going to have to give up all the obvious weapons," he whispered. "If you have a knife or a small pistol, keep it. Damn, I just got this gun." They piled the weapons on the floor under the hole. Kolya seemed to be satisfied. After his men lifted Allina and the equipment up, he began pushing the stone back.

"What the hell are you doing?" Sheppard shouted.

"Oh, relax, Major. I'll let you out when we're done."

"How do I know that?"

Kolya smiled. "You have my word, Major."

* * *

_Atlantis_

"So, did we recover anything from the dart's wreckage?" Dr. Weir asked.

"No," Zelenka replied. "But just before it exploded, the dart was transmitting data."

"I don't suppose you could decode it?" Weir asked.

"Not any time soon, at least. Darts are not long-range fighters- this one must have been sent out as a scout. It must have been scanning us and sending the information back to the hive-ships. Anyway, I was able to determine where the dart was transmitting." Zelenka tapped a few keys on the connected laptop.

"Well, that's rather unsettling," Weir remarked, looking at the glitchy picture.

"Yes, we're still working on the graphics emulation," Zelenka replied.

"No, those are hive-ships," Weir explained. "Three of them. Am I right in thinking that-"

"Oh my god. They're coming right for us," Zelenka observed, the significance suddenly hitting him like a thunderbolt. He tapped a few commands into the keyboard. "If they maintain direction and speed, they'll be right over us in under a week."

* * *

_Dagan_

"Why is it not working?" Kolya asked. They had tried dialling out several times, to no avail.

"I don't know, I have tried it many ways," Allina replied.

"Maybe these are not stargate symbols," Pranos, Kolya's second in command, suggested.

"Perhaps. The symbols on the sacred ring were considered most holy, and they are emblazoned around the mural at the monastery."

"Lead us there," Kolya ordered.

"Okay, what do have that we can use?" Sheppard asked. "There's no other way out of here, I checked. I've got a Five-seven, an extra magazine, and a leatherman."

Teyla unstrapped a knife from around her ankle and flipped it around in her hand. "Perhaps this may be of some use."

"Does it really matter? They'll probably just kill us anyway."

"McKay!"

"I've got a multi-tool and a spork."

"What about Lieutenant Ford's pack?" Sheppard asked with more than a hint of anger. That son of a bitch would pay!

"I'd rather not-"

"Look, if Ford was here, that's what he would want."

The words took a moment to sink in. "Flashbangs. Three flashbangs and some extra ammo."

"Look, they're not going to come down here. The Genii aren't that stupid."

"Then we'll just have to go up there, won't we? Get under the coverstone, I'm going to stand on your shoulders."

"What? Why?" McKay asked. Sheppard explained his plan.

* * *

The guard looked at the hole with interest as the coverstone slowly slid to the side. He kept his gun firmly trained on the slab and was about to shout at the prisoners when several objects slid out from underneath.

Unlike some more primitive cultures and several more advanced ones, the Genii understood what a grenade was. When the three black cylinders flew out of the hole in the ground, the four guards immediately ran. None of them bothered to kick the coverstone back over the hole.

Colonel Sheppard scrambled out of the hole. He immediately put one bullet in each of the stunned guards and kicked their guns away. Going back to the chamber entrance, he helped Teyla out, then did a more detailed sweep of the perimeter.

"I can't believe you are leaving me down here!" the Daganian woman shouted as McKay climbed out.

"It's safer than up here!" he replied. "Look, don't worry, we'll get you out soon."

An incoming rocket cause Sheppard to dive to the side. It left a sizable crater in the ground. Major Sheppard spun around, looking for the source. He took one of their SCAR-H rifles from a fallen Genii and unleashed a burst into the trees. There were two screams, then another rocket flew toward them. A burst of gunfire erupted from a Genii weapon Teyla picked up. Still two left.

Acastus Kolya walked slowly out of the trees. His arm was clamped around Allina's throat, with a Genii pistol to her head. Sheppard brought up his weapon up, aiming straight at Kolya's head. "I wouldn't try it, Major Sheppard."

"Allina!" McKay shouted.

"Please help me," Allina whispered.

"Let her go, Kolya!" Sheppard yelled.

"Why should I?" Kolya asked.

"You can have me instead," Sheppard replied.

"And the ZPM?"

Sheppard mulled over it for a moment. "All right, you can have that too."

Kolya tossed a small stone object on the ground. "I think I will keep her. Now, Doctor McKay, please get my ZPM."

"No," someone said. It wasn't Rodney McKay.

"What was that?" Kolya asked, still facing them.

"The Potentia is not yours to take." A series of gunshots rippled through the air. Kolya twisted in odd ways as the bullets impacted his abdomen and legs. Behind him, Sanir lay on the dirt, holding one of the Genii pistols in her hand. Allina immediately ran away from the Genii leader toward Sanir, with McKay putting himself between them and Kolya.

Major Sheppard approached Acastus Kolya carefully. Blood frothed on his lips and seeped from wounds all over his body, but he still weakly held the gun pointed at Sheppard. His words were slow and quiet, but surprisingly forceful. "Smart thing would be to kill me now."

John snatched his Desert Eagle out of Kolya's useless grip. He pointed it straight at his head and cocked the hammer. "You're right."

An ear-splitting gunshot rang over the hills as Kolya's head exploded into an amorphous mass of flash and bone, with blood and brain matter splattering all over the dirt on the ground. "This one's for Ford, you motherfucker."

He jerked the trigger again, and again and again until the magazine was empty. The .50 caliber slugs ripped through Koyla's body, leaving it horribly mutilated beneath his rapidly staining clothing. It was overkill in the most literal sense.

"Jesus!" McKay shouted. "Did you have to kill him?"

"He killed Lieutenant Ford. Not to mention he just pisses me off, and tried to kill me personally more than once."

"The Genii will not appreciate this action," Teyla remarked.

"The Genii already hate our guts," Sheppard replied. "Better to deal them a blow then to let them keep one of their best operators. McKay, get the ZPM."

"Get the ZPM? But I-"

"Just go get it," John sat down, adrenaline draining from his system. "Take all the time you need."

* * *

_Atlantis_

It had been a long day for Dr. Weir. A team that refused to respond to radio messages, a Wraith attack- and she hadn't had any sleep the night before. Exhausted, she was about to go to bed when Zelenka called her to the control room. Sighing, she downed the umpteenth coffee of the day, straightened her uniform and headed back upstairs.

"Doctor Weir," the Czech scientist called. "I was looking over the data on the Wraith ships."

"And? I was about to get some sleep."

"Sorry," Zelenka replied. He brought up a map of space on the computer, showing the course of the hive-ships. "The Wraith ships stop periodically- maybe to cool off their drives, maybe to feed. I have extrapolated this information to determine where they will stop."

"How does this do us any good?" Weir asked.

"I was hoping you would know. I don't know, maybe we could attack them with jumpers? It's not my department."

"No, you're right, but it isn't mine either," Weir replied. "We'll have to wait for John to get back. Anything else?"

"I believe that if we couple all our power sources together, we can dial Earth for a short period of time."

"Won't that deplete the only power sources we have left?" Weir asked. She grabbed the nearest mug of coffee and drank it, unaware that it belonged to Zelenka.

"For the most part, yes, but we don't have enough power to use any of the city's defences effectively anyway."

"Are we talking an evacuation, or sending a message?"

"No way we could evacuate- we would only be able to hold the wormhole open for a matter of seconds, not even long enough to get a single person through. With a few seconds, though, we can send an ultra-compressed data burst."

"So we can warn Earth about the Wraith," Weir finished.

"Yes, and send portions of the Ancient database with room left over for mission logs, scientific discoveries, maybe even personal messages."

Weir mulled it over. "What kind of chance do we have against those hive-ships?"

"That's more Major Sheppard's task, but I would say slim to none."

"All right, start working on it. Keep me posted."

* * *

_Dagan_

"Our people thank you and wish you luck in the fight against the Wraith," Allina said as the remains of ATL-1 prepared to leave. "We mourn for the loss of your friend, and appreciate your resistance to the Genii. Truly you are the children of the great city."

"Yes, well, thank you," Sheppard replied, rather gruesomely carrying Ford's body over his shoulder. Not only did he deserve a proper burial, but he was also carrying classified equipment that they couldn't leave lying around. Behind him, the stargate opened.

"IDC accepted, we're ready to go," McKay reported.

"Remember, should you wish to return to this world again, you will always be welcome among the New Brotherhood," Allina finished as they left.

Major Sheppard turned to look one last time and wave goodbye, and then he stepped through and was gone.

* * *

_Atlantis_

"What happened?" Weir asked gently. She knew something was wrong the moment the team had come through the gate.

"It's a long story," Sheppard said weakly. "We got it. Briefing room."

The debriefing took half an hour, almost bringing them to tears several times. "But we have the ZPM," Sheppard finished. "We've got to keep fighting."

"We have a ZPM," Weir argued. "We can go home now."

"No!" Sheppard pounded his fist against the table. "If Atlantis goes, then Earth is next. We can't just abandon this place. If we win this battle, the Wraith will think twice about crossing us again."

"Look, I appreciate your dedication, but the Atlantis Expedition is mostly civilian. Not to mention the Athosian refugees."

"So we give them a crash course in how to shoot a gun."

"We have days, John, days!" Weir replied.

"When there is time, there is hope," Teyla soothed.

"Easy for you to say," McKay said.

"Days? Since when?" Sheppard asked.

In her tiredness, Weir had forgot to inform the team of the events of the past day and a half. She explained them in brief detail.

"So, we still send a message to Earth, only we ask for help," John suggested.

"You do realize if Stargate Command could have sent help, they would have done it already," McKay said.

"We have to at least warn them, even if it's the last thing we do. Any other suggestions?" Weir asked.

He examined the path of the Wraith ships displayed on the screen. "We gate to a planet near where the Wraith are going to stop, go through with a flight of 306s with nukes. Then we smash the hell out of their fleet."

"I think it's worth mentioning, Major, that we have no idea what they're capable of," McKay pointed out.

"Hey, it's worth a shot. This way we can get an idea of their capabilities," Sheppard countered.

"I don't like it, but I'm willing to go with it," Weir replied. "Desperate times call for desperate measures. Right, John?"

"Right. Teyla, any idea what planet we can gate to?"

"I am familiar with this world," the Athosian woman pointed it out. "The inhabitants are friendly and the stargate is accessible by ship."

"We should take some jumpers, too," McKay suggested. "With the stealth systems engaged, we can get close."

"And smash them in the back," Sheppard finished.

"That's not what I was thinking," the scientist corrected. "I was thinking more along the lines of observe without being shot at."

"You have five hours, get it set up," Weir concluded. "If there's any personal message you or anyone else on this mission would like to record, do it now." The underlying meaning of that was crystal clear.

Each of them recorded a message, of course. For most of them it was short. Major Sheppard did a message for Ford's family, then another for Sumner, describing how they died and what they died fighting for. McKay, however, spent an hour, starting with a description of their situation, then going off on wild tangents before finally recording a short message for his sister.

* * *

Thirty minutes before the mission, they all gathered in the jumper bay for a last-minute speech and send-off. Major Sheppard paraded in front of the group, dressed in armour but sans helmet.

"I won't lie to you," he began. "I'm not one for speeches, but I'll try my best. This isn't going to be easy. We have no idea how capable those Wraith ships are. Best case scenario, our nukes smash them to hell in a couple of hits. Worst case scenario, our weapons do nothing and they massacre us. I don't like either one.

"We've lost good people, and let's face it, we're going to lose more. The Wraith have attacked us, and it's time to show them what we are really capable of. Ladies and gentlemen, we're going to hit them where it hurts. We will kill those ships or we will die trying.

"I think we all know what's at stake here. If we let them keep going, they'll hit Atlantis. If they take down Atlantis, they're headed for Earth. The SGC has their hands full with the goa'uld- if they could have sent relief, they would have already. We're in this on our own, and failure is not an option. Let's give them hell."

Roused by his speech, the pilots immediately ran to their craft, mechanics finishing final preparations for the spacecraft. Sheppard headed to Jumper One, the rear hatch closing behind him. He sat down at the controls and brought the craft online.

"Lieutenant, dial it up," Sheppard ordered. It pained him slightly to say it. Though he had said those words several times before, it had always been to a different person. He reminded himself that the woman sitting beside him had also lost one of her team.

"Yes, sir," Lieutenant Shira Chadad replied quietly. Teyla Emmagan sat behind them where Rodney McKay usually sat. He had more important things to do. Apart from the faint hum of the jumper, the only sound was that of the integrated DHD.

"Jumper one, this is Weir," the expedition leader said over the communications net. "Good luck and stay safe."

"Roger that," Sheppard replied. He piloted the Ancient craft out of the launch bay and through the stargate.

* * *

_M7G-686_

Sheppard landed the jumper and the team filed out. A group of villagers was gathered the gate. The planet was typical Pegasus fare, with a primitive agrarian culture. "You sure the natives are just friendly farmers?" John asked Teyla.

"Orin and his people are honest and hardworking. They are simple and of no threat to us."

"Yeah. That's what you said about the Genii."

The villagers whispered among each other, not sure about what to do with the new arrivals. Was it the Wraith? Should they run? They had never seen anything like them before. Two men and two women, but they wore clothing unlike any other. It seemed to be composed of metal plate over a fabric layer, all coloured in an earthy, dotted pattern. Their faces were obscured by clear glass- or something like glass- plates, and they carried strange blocky weapons. "Orin!" one of the women called. "It has been many days."

Orin paused. That sounded like- "Teyla? Is that you?"

"Yes!" Teyla replied. "I'd like to introduce you to Major John Sheppard and Lieutenant Shira Chadad."

The others were clearly not Athosian, but the names were so different he wondered if the visitors were in fact from three separate worlds. "You wear strange clothing," he remarked. "A type of armour?"

"Yes, it was provided by my friends," Teyla replied.

"You are with the Wraithbane," Orin assumed.

"Wraithbane?" John asked.

"Wraithbane, Wraithslayers, you are of multiple names," Orin explained. "Rumours have been spreading about men and women who wear strange clothing that protects them from the Wraith and carry weapons of thunder and fire which they use to kill them."

"I'm flattered, really," John Sheppard replied. "But we didn't come here to chat. The Wraith are coming."

That sent a chill down Orin's spine, and several of the others immediately went quiet. "How soon?"

"Hours, if even that," Sheppard replied.

"They are awaking everywhere," Orin noted.

"You should take precautions," Teyla suggested. "Go into hiding and wait for them to leave."

"We will, but you know as well as I do, Teyla, that if the Wraith come there will be nowhere to hide."

"Yeah, well, you might not have to," Sheppard replied. Behind them, the first group of 306s started coming through the stargate. "We're going to hit back at them."

"You really are the Wraithbane," Orin said. "I think you are insane, but I wish you luck nonetheless."

"If they do come," Teyla added. "Do not head for the stargate. Head to the far treeline and wait for us there."

"Teyla," Sheppard cautioned.

"One family, Major, that is all I ask."

"One family? Next thing you know, it's six families!" he seethed. "As much as I would like to save these people, we are hardly in the position to take in refugees!" He raised his voice, hopefully above the threshold level. "I'm sorry, Orin, I can't make that promise."

"No, Teyla is right," Weir's voice crackled. "I don't want any more blood on our hands. We need to save as many as we can."

"Need I remind you that we're about to get overrun by the Wraith?" Sheppard countered.

"There are plenty of places they can go in the Milky way. We take the refugees, that's final."

"Looks like I just got overruled," Sheppard said. "Once our fighters are through, we'll dial back out to keep the Wraith from dialling in. Don't wait, just get through that stargate."

"Okay," Orin replied. An F-306 zoomed overhead, a mere hundred metres above the ground. "Those 'fighters'- will they hurt us?"

"As long as you don't step in front of them, you should be fine," Sheppard replied. "Back to the jumper, the Wraith could show up at any time."

A third jumper came in behind the fighters. It flew a short distance into the forest, then landed and cloaked. The pilot dialled Atlantis from there as soon as the gate shut down, and would continue to do so until they were given the order to return.

Sheppard climbed into his own jumper, closing the rear hatch and engaging the stealth systems with his mind. The small spaceship flew up through the atmosphere and into orbit at breakneck velocities that he couldn't feel at all.

"Alpha flight, Bravo flight, Jumper Two, form up on me," Sheppard ordered. Twelve F-306s, divided into two flights, formed up behind the lead puddle jumper, with another lone jumper trailing. "All right, boys and girls, here's the plan. When those Wraith ships show up, we go in close and we hit them as soon as possible, then we run like hell back through the stargate. We have no idea what the Wraith are going to throw up against us. Could be a couple darts, could be guided missiles. Good luck and good hunting."

* * *

_Atlantis_

"Are we ready?" Weir asked. "Do we have everything?"

"Let's see," Rodney replied, going through the list on his computer. "Mission logs, scientific logs and notes, decoded portions of the Ancient database, personal messages, it's all there. Radek, what do you think?"

Radek Zelenka put down his coffee and rubbed his eyes. "Yes, it is all there I think."

"And how long is this going to take?" Weir asked.

"One point three seconds," the two scientists immediately replied.

"That fast?" Weir asked.

"It's a highly compressed digital databurst. We probably could have fit even more in," Rodney replied.

"All right. Dial the gate."

* * *

_M7G-686_

"Here they come!" Sheppard exclaimed as the three hive-ships dropped out of hyperspace. The massive organic constructs loomed overhead. In addition to the gigantic hive-ships, three smaller cruisers sat docked on each one. "It's like a damn carrier group. They've got cruisers and everything. All right, you know the drill. Weapons free, weapons free!"

"Tally ho!" one of the pilots, a Brit, yelled. He flipped off the safety switch and feathered the missile launch button, firing two nuclear anti-ship missiles. "Bravo Three, fox four!"

Beside him, other fighters did the same before scattering, the Wraith ships opening fire with their anti-capital ship cannons. Darts began streaming out of the hive-ships and the cruisers separated. The Wraith's standard doctrine was to intercept missiles by sacrificing darts. It was too late for that. All of the Tau'ri missiles hit, only one failing to detonate. The massive explosions rocked the ships and would have blinded any unprotected observer. The damage to the hive-ships, however, was only moderate. They continued to spew out fighters and fired at the small vessels.

"Damn it!" Sheppard spat, pulling his jumper around and dropping the cloak. "These things are tough, I'm designating a target for everyone to shoot at." This required Sheppard to do several things at once. He piloted the small ship around the obstacle course of enemy fighters, ships and energy bolts, at the same time picking a weak-looking point on a hive-ship and transmitting the coordinates using systems built into the jumper. He flew the ship toward the dart bay, cringing at the energy bolts hitting and near-missing the puddle jumper. Sheppard launched a barrage of drones into the dart bay, rewarding him with several satisfying explosions.

Above him, several large nuclear missiles streaked toward the ship. However, this time there were darts to intercept the missiles and keep the fighters at bay. Only half of the missiles hit, one F-306 being obliterated in the process. Still, that was twelve multi-megaton nuclear missiles to contend with. They were synchronized to detonate all at once, completely vaporizing the hull armour and ripping through the middle of the ship. The engines on the rear flickered and died before secondaries tore the abomination apart, taking two of the cruisers down with it.

"Hell yeah! Take that, you fucking sons o-" the message was abruptly cut off when a dart slammed headlong into Reaper's fighter, ripping it to shreds. She ejected just in time, but was now drifting in space, protected only by a few layers of fabric and ceramic.

"Jumper Two, pick her up," Sheppard ordered. "Everyone else, missiles into the dart bays."

Even though they were outnumbered twenty-to-one and counting, the flights of fighters came back around, heading straight for the formations of darts. As the commander of Alpha Flight, Captain "Lemon" Jackson was in the lead.

"All right," the Captain ordered. "Save your missiles for the hive-ships, use your guns."

"I don't like this, it's fucking crazy," one of the others complained, nevertheless holding her fighter in formation.

"Can it, Williams. Too fucking bad, we have a galaxy to save." Lemon lined up with a dart closing right at him and held down the trigger, walking the tracers into the enemy craft. He pulled his own fighter sharply upward as the other exploded. Still flying forward, he reoriented his craft toward the enemy ship. Warning alarms sounded as fragments ripped through his right PDE. He immediately shut it down and activated the fire extinguishing systems. It probably made his fighter damned un-aerodynamic, too, but that wasn't a problem in space. He checked the distance. Close enough.

"Alpha One, fox two!" Four Star Streak /F missiles exploded from the internal weapons bay, heading in a straight line toward the lumbering hive ship. Taking his launch as a cue, the others fired their own missiles. The barrage slammed into the vulnerable dart bay, ripping up the interior and taking the darts with it. Bravo flight did the same with the other hive-ship. Though the explosions were impressive, they did not do any critical damage to the hive-ships.

The remaining Darts immediately went after the retreating F-306s. Major Sheppard immediately brought his jumper between the darts and the F-306s, firing off a stream of drones. There were just too many Darts, however. The powerful little energy blasts hammered into the jumper as he struggled to dodge, firing back as he went. "Head for the gate!" he ordered. "And someone give me a casualty report!"

"Joey, Bruiser and Ivan are dead," the pilot of Jumper Two reported. "We picked up Reaper. Lemon and Sonic seem to be running on one engine."

"Jumper Three, what's the status of the gate?"

"Open, sir, but it won't be for much longer. There's a cruiser headed straight for us, I think they know what we're up to."

"This is gonna be close!"

* * *

_Atlantis_

"Roger that, we're lowering the shield," Weir replied. "Security teams stay alert, bring the control room forcefields online. Lower the shield!"

The first F-306 to come through the gate did so at combat speed. The pilot applied full backthrust on her one working engine, slowing but also spinning the craft. It crashed into the far wall, immediately catching fire. As other fighters came through, careful not to repeat her mistake, she struggled to escape from the burning cockpit. The Mark Two suit was fire-resistant, but not that fire-resistant. Still, it protected her from the burning fuel and hot, sharp metal long enough to eject the canopy and crawl out with nary a scratch. The gateroom guards immediately pulled her away from the wreck, smothering the flames with portable extinguishers.

"Is that it?" Weir asked. "I thought we sent more ships than that?"

"We did!" Sheppard replied from inside his jumper. "I'd suggest you-"

"Raise the shield!" Weir ordered, running up toward the jumper bay.

"Doctor Weir, I'm picking up a single contact on medium-range sensors," Zelenka reported. "Dropped out of hyperspace in orbit. Sorry, I was too occupied to notice it before."

"The Wraith?" she asked, still climbing up the stairs.

"No, it looks almost like one of ours. Could be a whole new civilization, though."

"Hail them but prepare to raise the shield, just in case." She was in the jumper bay now. A disaster of a mission... and now this?

"This is the USS Enterprise, to Atlantis," a voice with a Texas accent buzzed. "We are prepared to render assistance."

"Well, that was fast," McKay noted. "Identification is authentic, believe it or not."

"Give them a landing vector," Weir replied.

"Give who a landing vector?" John asked, stepping out of the jumper.

"The USS Enterprise- one of our ships!" Weir explained.

"Well, that's pretty damn convenient, but I thought our ships were-" Sheppard replied. Three shapes suddenly appeared in a flash of light, and John immediately recognized them for what they were. He pushed Elizabeth down behind and inside the jumper. An energy blast slammed into his armoured body. "Fuck! That's a staff weapon!"

"You sure?" Elizabeth Weir asked. She got up quickly, ignoring the pain in her chest. Sheppard had already hit the button to close the hatch and was scrambling forward to where Teyla and Lieutenant Chadad sat. Energy blasts rocked the jumper.

"What the hell is going-" McKay managed before the comm net went dead.

In the front of the jumper, Sheppard sat down in the pilot's seat and took the controls. The invaders hadn't compromised the jumper bay doors yet, and he flew right through them, out of the city.

"Is what I think is happening really happening?" Doctor Weir asked.

"Yep," Sheppard said forebodingly. "The goa'uld are in the city."


	24. S1E19 Countdown

It took a while, but it's finally done. A bit unpolished, but not too bad. Enjoy!

* * *

_Stargate Command_

"Unscheduled offworld activation!" Walter shouted. Colonel Reynolds, temporary commander yet again, rushed in moments later.

"I don't see a wormhole," he noted, observing the inactive stargate.

"You missed it, sir. It was very short, maybe a couple seconds."

"Wrong number?" Reynolds joked.

"No, sir, someone sent a databurst through. McKay-Carter protocol, it's decrypting right now." Walter paused and looked up. "Sir, I think it's from Atlantis!"

"Atlantis?" Reynolds asked, surprised. "Well, I guess the question we've all been asking for the last few months has been answered. Any idea what's in it?"

Walter tried his best to skim through the information. "Mission logs, scientific data, personal messages. Looks like they met an alien Wraith known as the Wraith... and they're headed straight for Atlantis."

"Damn it!" Reynolds said. "We have to get this to the Daedalus. Any way we can do that?"

"The Daedalus is already in the Pegasus galaxy," the technician replied.

"So no way we can get them this intel?"

Walter shook his bald head. "I didn't say that, sir. Provided the Daedalus is on time and on course, we can find a planet in the Pegasus database we just got and dial in to it. We should be able to hold it open just long enough to send a message."

"I thought we didn't have enough power?"

"We had enough power, we couldn't get it to the gate. We still can't, not long enough to send anyone through. But we can do a short databurst."

"All right, Sergeant, do it."

* * *

_AES Daedalus_

Not for the first time, General O'Neill wished they had taken the Athena and not the Daedalus. Not only was the Athena much better equipped to deal with whatever might be in the Pegasus galaxy, but it was also significantly faster, especially with both reactors. Unfortunately, it was too badly damaged. Even the Daedalus needed to be repaired by cannibalizing parts from other vessels.

"Are we there yet?" O'Neill asked rather unprofessionally. Also rather unprofessionally, he sat on a railing overlooking the main holographic display. Originally, the Daedalus was to have a command area similar to that of the Prometheus. Late in construction, this was changed to one more like that of the Athena. A main holographic display dominated the raised rear section of the CIC. Like the Athena, flat-panel displays covered the walls, with crew sitting at stations in front of them. In the lower forward section, a few stations faced forward, toward an honest-to-God window. Of course, it was equipped with shutters and heavily reinforced.

"Still at least a day, sir," Colonel Steven Caldwell replied. "Precluding any hyperdrive malfunctions."

O'Neill frowned at that. Last week they had to stop for two days to re-adjust the hyperdrive. Carter told him that if they didn't, the ship and everything on it could be torn apart at the subatomic level. That was never fun.

"Sir, picking up a transmission," the sensor officer reported. "Looks like a high-density encrypted data burst."

"Where'd it come from?" Caldwell asked.

"The SGC, sir," the officer replied, surprised. "Seems like they dialed a Pegasus gate and sent it through."

"They- we- can do that?" O'Neill asked. The technician nodded. "Must be important. What's in it?"

"Seems to be a relayed message from Atlantis."

"Well, at least we know they're still alive," O'Neill noted. "What does it say?"

"Uh, there's lots in it, sir, including some personal messages."

"I'm sure those will be good for a laugh," O'Neill joked, earning himself several odd looks. "Any really important message?"

"Uh, yes, sir. Text only." The officer handed O'Neill and Caldwell a printout each. He made a mental note to have a printer installed on the Athena as he read it.

General O'Neill and Colonel Caldwell shared a look. O'Neill asked, "Colonel, are you sure you can't get us there faster?"

* * *

_Atlantis_

Sheppard took a moment to take stock of the situation. The tower, with its angry evil Jaffa, was behind them. The new arrivals didn't seem to have access to the surface-to-air missile batteries, so that was a definite plus. Lieutenant Shira Chadad sat beside him, looking stoic and checking her weapons. Dr. Weir didn't look too good. She clutched her chest, panting. No doubt he had broken a couple of her ribs- but it was better than the alternative. Teyla- "Fuck."

"What is it?" the Lieutenant asked, tense.

"Teyla. She's not here. Damn it, I guess she got out of the jumper, and then we left."

"You did the right thing, Major," Weir said weakly. "Waiting for her would have been suicide."

"I know, it's just-" Sheppard brought the jumper to an abrupt halt as the shield popped up a mere fifty metres in front of them. He slammed his gloved fist on the dashboard. "Fuck!"

"They raised the shield?" Weir asked.

"Yeah. Would someone remind me why we didn't do that?" Sheppard asked.

"We didn't know they were a threat," Weir replied. "On the bright side, we'll have some protection when the Wraith show up."

"Yeah, but we don't know how long that shield will last, or how effective Atlantis' weapons will be. If Atlantis even has weapons."

"Sir, ma'am, I think we have more pressing issues," Lieutenant Chadad interrupted.

"Right. It's the three of us versus an unknown number of them. And we're cut off from any sort of help."

"There could be others left free in the city," Chadad added. "But the enemy might also have hostages."

"Most of those are scientists, not military." Sheppard landed the spaceship between two tall towers. "Okay, what do we have to work with?"

"I don't think I'm going to be of much use," Weir replied. "I think you broke a few of my ribs."

"We can fix that... I think," Sheppard replied, heading into the back of the jumper. He passed Weir a pistol holster. "We'll need to get to one of the caches, though."

"Cache?" Weir asked, strapping on the holster. She loaded the gun and racked the slide.

"Exactly what it says on the tin," John explained. "After the Genii cut us off from our main armoury, I had several hidden stashes of equipment placed around the city."

"Why didn't I know about it?"

"It wasn't under your jurisdiction! Military matters and such."

"Right," Weir replied. "You really have to start keeping me in the loop."

"Alright, fair enough," Sheppard replied. He helped her to stand up. "You sure it's just a rib?"

"Well, the rib for sure, but maybe a few other things too." She smiled sheepishly.

"That's never good. Lieutenant, secure the jumper. We'll be back in a bit."

* * *

_AES Daedalus_

Entering the conference room, General O'Neill again wished he had the Athena. It wasn't too badly cramped, but was still fairly small, lacked a holodisplay and had an ugly metal table.

"All right, we've got a bit of time left," he began. "Tell me what we know and what we don't know."

"Among the information in the databurst was a warning about an alien race native to this galaxy," Carter explained. "They're called the Wraith. Though we don't know exactly how they do it, they can feed off the 'life force' of humans and regenerate from it."

"Space vampires?"

"Yes, sir. They're technologically advanced, capable of building starships and energy weapons. Ever since the fall of the Ancients, they've been culling human populations between periods of hibernation."

"Humans?" O'Neill asked, twirling a pencil.

"The goa'uld seeded human life in the Milky Way, the Ancients may have done it in the Pegasus galaxy," Daniel guessed.

"Makes sense. These Wraith are headed for Atlantis, right?"

"Yes, sir," Carter replied. "According to the message, they'll be over Atlantis in a matter of days. The good news is that they've managed to locate a ZPM, which should be able to power the city and provide a degree of defence."

"They can dial Earth now, why not just evacuate?" Caldwell asked.

"Atlantis is incredibly valuable, both from a technological and a cultural standpoint," Daniel said. "They've probably thought about it, and decided that the ZPM was better used to defend the city."

"The ultimate destination of the Wraith may not be Atlantis," Teal'c added. "It is likely the Wraith intend to invade our galaxy."

"And this is where things get complicated," Carter mentioned. "If Ba'al has already reached Atlantis-"

"He probably got blown to smithereens," O'Neill assumed. "No?"

Carter shook her head. "The Trust vessel was built on Earth, with our technology, and our secure codes may have been compromised. It's entirely possible the Atlantis Expedition took them as genuine."

"And what happens from there?" General O'Neill asked.

"There are several possibilities, sir," she explained. "They could continue to pose as friendlies and take over Atlantis with apparent legitimacy. They could move in quickly and overpower the guard force. They could take hostages and sections of the city, resulting in a standoff. Or, the situation could become a drawn-out battle for the city."

"Well, that's just great," O'Neill sighed. "Have they attempted to hail us?"

"No, sir, but that could be due to any number of other reasons."

"So, we don't know?"

"I'm afraid not, sir."

"Well, we'll find out soon enough," Caldwell interrupted. "We should be dropping out of hyperspace on the edge of the system in a few minutes."

* * *

_Lantean Mainland_

Halling was beginning to worry. Teyla had said that the... jumpers would come to evacuate the Athosians, but they still had not arrived. He could not contact Atlantis with the radio they had been provided with, either.

They did not agree on many things. Halling was a traditionalist- or had been one, anyway. He had once firmly believed that trying to fight the Wraith was pointless. The arrival of the people from Earth and their subsequent actions made him question that belief. Him and many of his people volunteered to help defend Atlantis, even if it was only to protect their children.

They had a backup plan, of course. Major Sheppard said something about main plans never working out that he didn't remember the specifics of. His people had already packed their limited possessions and were ready to go. They would leave a marker in the village should the Tau'ri return, then head for a system of hidden caves in the hills.

* * *

_Atlantis_

Hidden behind a science lab and only accessible from a maintenance corridor, the supply stash was well hidden from potential intruders. The door was locked with an Earth-built device, which immediately recognized Sheppard's IFF transponder and let him in. The room wasn't very big, but packed tightly with crates, shelves and lockers. Weapons hung from racks, and several suits of armour were arranged at the back of the room. A low bench was the single concession to human occupancy.

"We made it," Weir gasped. She leaned heavily on Sheppard for support. God, her chest hurt! At the moment, she wasn't sure what was worse- having smashed ribs or a plasma burn.

"Yeah, we made it." Major Sheppard helped her sit down on the bench, then began searching through the lockers. He emerged triumphant with a palm-sized silver device.

"What's that?"

"A healing device, based off Goa'uld and Ancient tech. Rodney says it's 'probably safe'." He activated the device and began waving it over Weir's body.

"Is that supposed to be a-" she paused as the device began to work. There was a numb yet tingly sensation, and the pain subsided. "I think it works."

Sheppard gently prodded her, a move that would have been considered sexual harassment under less dire circumstanced. "Bones seem to be back together."

"No scanner?"

"That's coming soon." He squeezed by a pair of crates and eyed up the armoured suits. "This one looks about your size. Strip."

"Are you kidding me?" the expedition leader asked.

"Not kidding. I don't mean to be rude, but you're going to have to strip naked."

"Can I at least have some privacy?"

"Only if you can put that armour on by yourself."

Elizabeth briefly thought about countermanding his orders and going with a bulletproof vest. Then she remembered how useful those were against staff weapons. "All right, fine. No staring."

* * *

"I already told you, I don't know where they went!" McKay protested, spitting out a mouthful of blood. Beside him, Teyla lay motionless on the floor. Why the hell were they beating him up, anyway? What happened to the ribbon device?

The control room had been the first place the Goa'uld had invaded. There were a dozen of them, clearly Jaffa but of a type Rodney had never seen before. Their weapons had taken a gigantic leap in practicality, firing similar energy bolts to a staff weapon but at a much higher rate. And they were much more ergonomic. Not that that was necessarily a good thing.

Not necessarily as good as their armour, though. It was a weird hybrid of standard warrior armour and a Kull suit- or appeared so, anyway. All black, the suits featured plates on the shoulders and legs, with scale mail over the torso and arms. A menacing retractable helmet accompanied the armour. It wasn't impervious to bullets, but protected the wearer against quite a few before failing. Rodney wasn't sure about NBC protection or inertial dampeners, but thankfully they didn't have shields. Yet.

The handful of guards were taken by surprise. The staff rifle things cut through their armour, then shredded their bodies. None of the guards had survived- they did take two of the Jaffa down before succumbing. The scientists and technicians didn't put up a fight. What could they do? Raise the emergency forcefields, Rodney thought in retrospect, but by the time it occurred to anyone it was too late.

Even Rodney recognized the man- or whatever it was- that came after. The charismatic smile, the distinctive beard. Ba'al. He glided up to the control room and made a grand proclamation about how the city was now his. Then forced them at gunpoint to activate the shield.

"Not you, Doctor Meredith Rodney McKay," Ba'al had said. Rodney spat some pithy remark back in response to his embarrassing first name, earning him the first smack. After that, he had been shoved in a storage closet and left alone for about a minute before they tossed Teyla in too. Stripped of armour- he didn't have a chance to ask how they did that. One of the henchmen came in with her.

Sheppard. That was who they were after. The fact that they hadn't tossed Weir in with him was a good sign. Maybe they had managed to escape. And they could take back the city- except neither of them knew how to work any of the city's systems. And Weir was unarmed. And Ba'al had hostages. _No, Rodney, you've got to think positive! _Which was real easy when you were in a room with a fanatical maniac.

"You will tell me!" The Jaffa yelled. He detached what looked like a stylized cattleprod from his armour, gripping it tightly with one of his blood-covered gauntlets. Black gloves, like the rest of the uniform. What was up with bad guys and-

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!" Well, at least they were finally bringing out the big guns. The Jaffa prodded him again with the pain prod, a sickening crackle filling the air. Rodney didn't get to experience the full force of the pain this time. He blacked out as soon as the prod touched his skin.

* * *

Radek Zelenka quietly unleashed a few Czech swear words. He was quite lost. Not in the literal sense- no, he knew exactly where he was in the city. No, it was more a 'don't know what to do' sort of thing.

He knew a ship had arrived in orbit, supposedly one of theirs. There had been some kind of commotion in the control room, and now he couldn't reach them at all. He was alone, and carried only his tablet and some tools. Zelenka had been off checking one of the drone launchers, and now was on his way back.

He rounded a corner and stopped in his tracks. A tall woman wearing armour was pointing a rifle in his face. She muttered a few words in a language not English nor Czech. It was fairly obvious what kind of words they were. Her nametag identified her as Lieutenant Chadad. Israeli?

"I nearly shot you!" the Lieutenant exclaimed. "I suppose it is more my fault than yours. Come, this way."

Zelenka followed her back to the puddle jumper. "What's going on?"

"A ship arrived, said they were friendly. They were Goa'uld and attacked us. Sheppard and I escaped with Doctor Weir."

"Goa'uld? That's not good. Where are they right now?" Zelenka asked. If he knew Sheppard, he was probably trying to take back the city. But where did that leave Weir?

"He injured Weir saving her life." The irony of that was not lost on the Israeli lieutenant. "They went to a hidden supply cache to heal her."

She paused for a moment. "They should be coming back right now." A few moments later, two armoured figures, one male and one female, entered the jumper. Both wore filled tactical vests and carried M91s, SPAS-12 shotguns and pistols.

"I see you found a friend," Sheppard remarked humorously, then turned serious. "Zelenka, do you think you can tap into the city's systems?"

"Well, that depends on how much you want out of them."

"Can you get me surveillance- say, tap into the city's sensors?"

"That I can do, but I'm going to need to tap into the city's- wait," Zelenka opened a panel on the puddle jumper's interior and connected his tablet. "I think I can access the city's systems through the jumper."

"That's pretty cool," Sheppard replied.

"And pretty scary," Weir added. "I mean, if just anyone can do that-"

"Ah, but not everyone can do this," Zelenka said, continuing to work his tablet. "It requires knowledge of how the system works, and a backdoor."

"You put in a backdoor?" Sheppard asked.

"Yes, well, me and Rodney had a bet. I won." Radek smiled. "I'm in."

"Can you get me city sensors?" Sheppard asked.

"Of course, what area of the city?"

"Tower," everyone said at once.

"Right, tower." A display of the control tower, showing lifesigns as dots, appeared on the puddle jumper's HUD. "Well, this is good. I think it's possible to tell the humans from the Jaffa and Goa'uld."

Twelve or so dots changed colour to bright red. "All Jaffa and no Goa'uld, or the other way?" Sheppard asked.

Zelenka shrugged. "Could be a mix. I've set it to look for the two different lifesigns in close proximity, we can't identify which is which."

"I'd say mostly Jaffa," Sheppard guessed. "And one Goa'uld."

"Yeah, but which one?" Weir asked. "Anubis is gone, so that leaves..."

"Ba'al, Cronus, Yu, Amaterasu, and a whole bunch of others," Sheppard finished. "What I want to know is where they got that ship."

"Maybe they built it," Lieutenant Chadad suggested.

"Probably," Sheppard conceded. "I didn't know the Goa'uld could be so covert."

"Well, they did it," Zelenka replied. "And stole or cracked our secure codes, too."

"Where did they get those?" Weir mused. "I guess that's the million dollar question."

"We may never know. Is there anyone left other than us?" Chadad asked.

"I tried contacting Teyla- couldn't reach her."

"They probably killed her, sir," Chadad assumed.

"Let's not get too hasty," Sheppard snapped. "Maybe she's hiding, or maybe they're holding her prisoner."

"Possibly," Chadad conceded.

"Well, Zelenka, found anyone else?"

"I'm searching... no! I mean yes! Two lifesigns by the vehicle garage, there are no doubt more all over the city."

"Must be the guards," Sheppard said, accessing the battlenet. Sergeant Bates- ah yes, put on guard duty for being nasty to the Athosians. With Sergeant Stackhouse. "Stackhouse, Bates, do you read?"

"Loud and clear, sir," Bates replied. "What do you need?"

"Listen, Sarge, we've got Goa'uld in the city."

"Since when, sir?" Bates asked, shocked.

"A ship entered orbit claiming to be from Earth. Well, they weren't. As far as we know, they control the tower now and have hostages. I escaped on a jumper with Weir and Lieutenant Chadad."

"What are your orders, sir?"

"Stay put for now, but be alert and keep a low profile."

"Yes, sir."

"Bates, you see anyone, tell them the same thing. I don't want any defectors, but I don't want any heroes, either."

"Yes, sir."

* * *

_AES Daedalus_

"We've dropped out of hyperspace, sir," Major Marks reported. They were in the middle of the system, with Lantea ahead of them.

"Very well," Caldwell replied. "Sensors, anything interesting?"

"There is a satellite of unknown design orbiting the outer planet, but it is inactive."

"What about Atlantis?" O'Neill asked.

"Scanning... huh. Detecting a shielded structure a few kilometres across on the inner planet about five kilometres across."

"That's Atlantis," O'Neill said happily. "Can you hail them?"

Caldwell nodded to the communications officer. "No response, sir."

"Picking up another signature, very faint," the sensor officer interrupted. "Looks like a starship, cloaked. I can't get a good reading on it, but the cloak matches the signature of the Trust vessel."

"Sound battle stations. Take us in, ahead standard." Caldwell turned to his superior officer. "What do you think, General? Should we wait, or do you want me to blow them to pieces?"

"Sir, contact is breaking orbit and heading for the planet's surface," the sensor officer reported after a moment of waiting.

"Disable them, but don't destroy them," O'Neill ordered.

Caldwell nodded acknowledgement. "Open fire, all batteries."

* * *

"_USS Enterprise"_

Tel'nak did not like the ship at all. For one, it was heinously ugly, blocky and finished in plain grey. The controls were unfamiliar, confusing, and difficult to use. Worse still, everything was labelled in the language of the Tau'ri. His god didn't like the ship either, but it served his purposes.

He struggled with the control interface- a 'flight stick', according to the information provided by Lady Athena. One of the Tau'ri ships was approaching, and his orders were to land the ship. Well, the cloak kept it invisible, so he didn't have any reason to hurry. Better to not damage the ship and risk the wrath of the gods.

"The Tau'ri vessel is firing!" one of his underlings reported.

Tel'nak cursed under his breath. The vessel shuddered as tungsten slugs slammed into the thin hull. They couldn't take a beating like that for long. "Drop the cloak and raise shields!" he ordered.

That took several precious seconds. With their ship visible, the Tau'ri corrected their aim. Warning lights flashed and alarm went off as slugs ripped into one of the unprotected engines.

"We have lost the starboard engine!" the Jaffa reported. Tel'nak struggled to keep control of the ship. It wasn't far- they were hitting atmosphere now. More slugs chased the human-built ship, but it was now protected by shields. Missiles burst forth from the other ship, slamming into the weakening shields but not doing any damage. _Just a few more seconds..._

Below them, the shield over Atlantis dropped just long enough for the ship to slide through. They were going down too fast! Tel'nak jerked the stick forward, but that only worsened the damage. The front of the ship slammed into the solid deck of Atlantis' pier. He could hear the crunching noise, and cringed. Oh yes, he would feel the wrath of the gods today.

* * *

_Atlantis_

"Huh, that's odd," Zelenka said. "The shield just dropped for few seconds, then came back up."

"Did anything come through?" Weir asked.

Zelenka tapped on his tablet. "Yes, a small starship."

"Probably the one the snakes came in on," Sheppard replied. "Can you access the orbital sensors?"

"One moment." Zelenka paused. "Ah, there we are!"

Sheppard pointed to a single dot. "There. I bet that's on of ours, probably the Prometheus. For real this time."

"Why haven't they hailed us?" Weir asked.

"They probably have. Communications in the city, it's iffy," Zelenka answered. "I'm not sure if it's the shield or some other device, but most signals are routed to the city's communications systems. Some others get through and some get blocked entirely. Maybe the Goa'uld are jamming too."

"Can we send a signal to them?" Sheppard asked.

"No, not unless you can get into the city's communications systems."

"And you can't?" Sheppard asked.

"That's not part of the backdoor, no, only the security systems" Zelenka said.

"What kind of bet was this?" Sheppard asked. "Nevermind, I'm not sure if I want to know."

"Well, there might be one way," Zelenka mused. "If you could get a powerful enough laser and aim it precisely enough, you might be able to send a message with it. Besides, what do we tell them?"

"Good question. They probably already know the Goa'uld are in the city, or at least suspect something is wrong. The shield is still up, so they can't send in reinforcements. You know, this really sucks."

"How so?" Zelenka asked.

"How do you think?" Sheppard replied. "There is a Goa'uld and his cronies in the city, who, I should mention, control the control tower and have hostages. And if that wasn't bad enough, the Wraith are still coming."

"Those who still roam the city freely," a distorted voice boomed over the city's communication system. "Do not make it harder on yourselves and your friends. Surrender now, and you will not be harmed. Be under no illusions, this city is now controlled by the great Lord Ba'al. Oh, and I will kill one hostage every hour until I am satisfied. That is all."

"Well, that's just great," Sheppard added. "To top it off, he's gloating!"

"All this is getting us nowhere," Weir interjected. "We need a plan. Any ideas?"

* * *

_AES Daedalus_

"It's... scaly," O'Neill remarked. "But what is it?"

"That's a toy iguana, sir," Carter replied. O'Neill dropped the offending animal, and it scurried away under the table. Her shimmering outline tapped him on the shoulder, then faded into clear view. "_This_ is what I wanted to show you."

O'Neill took a moment to admire the form-fitting armour. It was smoother and sleeker than the usual suit she wore, with thinner plates that closely hugged her body. O'Neill thought it quite attractive, in a tough girl kind of way. The finish was completely different, a blotchy camouflage pattern he immediately recognized as MultiCam. "It has a cloak?"

Carter shook her head. "No, sir, it's a sort of adaptive camouflage. It uses a holographic system similar to the one we used in Iraq. And yes, sir, it can be used as a disguise, too."

"Cool. What else does it do."

"Well, sir, the Aegis Mark Three is mostly an evolutionary improvement. Shields are a bit stronger and recharge faster. The armour plating is thinner and lighter, but actually provides better protection thanks to improved materials technology. The main focus was on stealth, and in addition to the active camo, the suit can also sink heat through the boots into the ground. It has sensor jammers, too, but those are untested."

"What about the Trust pulse weapon? You know, the one that can bypass shields, go through the armour and knock you out?" They had discovered blueprints and a few examples in the Iraq facility. The weapons looked innocuous enough, like a homegrown energy weapon, but had a setting that phased through the shields on their Aegis suits, and another that stunned through shields and armour, although it would take more than one shot. Thankfully, it seemed that only a few had been produced, leaving only two unaccounted for.

"Proof against them, sir. I tested it myself. All of the Mark Two suits we brought with us have been tweaked to block the weapons, as well."

"Last but not least, how many do we have?"

"Just the three for SG-1."

"Oh. Speaking of that, how do you plan to get into Atlantis?"

"Actually, sir, I've been working on that." Carter smiled behind her clear full-face visor. "I think a specially modulated energy pulse will disrupt the shield enough to beam one person in. McKay's notes were a big help."

"That's good, Carter, but we don't have a deflector dish."

"No, sir, but I've built a device that can produce that pulse. It's kind of jury-rigged, but it should work." Carter motioned to a cylindrical device in the corner of her lab.

"Looks like a nuke."

"It is, sir, or rather, it uses one. A Mark Eight tactical warhead 'pumps' the emitter array. It will be vaporized, but the array only has to last for microseconds to work."

"Don't we need more than one?"

"I doubt it'll work more than once," Carter replied ruefully. "Even if we could get more than one device, a simple adjustment to the shields will eliminate the vulnerability."

"Maybe they won't adjust them. I mean, they haven't shot at us yet."

"Firing the weapons requires the ATA gene and use of the control chair. Adjusting the shields can be done from a laptop with a minimal amount of knowledge."

"Alright, one person then. And you want to be the one to go?"

Carter's helmeted head bobbed up and down. "Yes, sir."

"Daniel's not going to be happy about this," O'Neill warned.

"With all due respect, sir, and I don't mean to brag, but I'm the most qualified for this. Daniel doesn't have the tactical knowledge or technical expertise."

"I don't know, Carter," O'Neill was worried. He didn't want to send her in alone, didn't want to send anyone in alone, but especially not her.

"I'll be fine, sir," she replied, sensing her superior's worry. "We have to do something."

"All right, you're already all dressed up. You have my go, but be careful."

"I will, sir."

* * *

_Atlantis_

Ba'al scared Dr. Beckett a lot more than the Jaffa with the pain stick. Yes, the pain stick hurt. It hurt a lot, more than the fist, and the medical professional in him wondered what it did to the body, but at least it was obviously a form of torture. A method of extracting information... or just sadistic pleasure.

Ba'al, on the other hand, was pleasant enough to have tea with. And for reasons he couldn't describe, that was even worse than the pain stick. He held out a canteen for the injured man. "Drink, it will make you feel better." Didn't even use the scary snakehead voice.

"No, thank you," Carson choked.

Ba'al shrugged and swigged the canteen. "Your loss. So, tell me, what is this ATA gene?"

"It allows the use of-" he began, then stopped himself. "I'm not telling you!"

"The use of what?" Ba'al asked. "Come now, I'm not going to hurt you. That would be most unprofessional. But, my First Prime has no such objections."

"It allows use of Ancient technology," Carson blurted out. What harm could it do?

"That's a good start. So, some humans, like Doctor Weir, have it?"

"Not Doctor Weir, but Major Shep-" Damn, he really wasn't very good at this!

Ba'al smiled, watching the Scottish man's face contort in anger. "So, Major Sheppard has this gene. He is the military second in command, correct?"

"No, actually he's in charge now. Colonel Sumner was killed on the first offworld mission." What the bloody hell? Granted, Carson wasn't military, but he usually wasn't _this_ open. Patient confidentiality and all that.

"What about those without the gene?"

"Well, there is a therapy we've developed, but it doesn't work all the time and could have some nasty side effects." Carson covered his mouth. That was stupid, bloody stupid!

A sudden blast rocked the city. "Excuse me, I must go," Ba'al said curtly, turning to leave. "I will return."

As he walked through the door, Ba'al mulled over the fact that people would never take the drink with the antidote but would always breathe the drugged air.

* * *

"What the hell was that?" Sheppard asked, holding onto the jumper's equipment rack.

"I don't know, I think someone hit the city with a weapon of some type," Zelenka replied, furiously hammering away on his tablet. "Looks like a nuclear weapon accompanied by an energy wave. Shield is still up."

"They can't seriously think that's going to take down the shield!" Sheppard commented.

"No, but it might have disrupted it long enough to- aha! They beamed a single person through the shield."

Sheppard tapped on his wrist-mounted control interface. "If it's one of our guys... yes! Colonel Carter, do you read?"

"Loud and clear, Major," she replied. "Recommend radio silence, I am en route to your position."

"This changes things," Weir mentioned. "If we could detect that, Ba'al probably could have too."

"Well, we've still got forty-five minutes left," Sheppard replied. "Provided, of course, that he doesn't decide to start killing hostages for the fun of it."

"I don't like our people held hostage like that," Weir continued. "Even if he doesn't kill any of them, he's going to torture them for information or worse."

"We need to drop the shield," Sheppard suggested.

"We've already established that," Zelenka replied. "We've also established that we can only do that from the control room."

Sheppard had a brainstorm. "Unless we cut the power."

"Now why didn't I think of that?" Zelenka complained.

"Probably because you spent the last fifteen minutes trying to hack the city's systems. Is anyone guarding the power room?"

"Uh, a few Jaffa by the looks of it," Zelenka said, bringing up the map.

"We can take them, easy. Lieutenant, keep an eye on Zelenka. Ma'am, with me."

"What?" Dr. Weir sputtered. "Shouldn't I be the one who stays here?"

"Relax, you'll be fine. Just follow my lead."

"You know, I can take this as a compliment, or an insult," she added, following the Major out of the jumper.

"Take it as a compliment. Colonel, head for the power room. We'll meet you on the way. If that's alright with you, ma'am."

"It's your city. Roger that, power room. You can fill me in on the way."

* * *

_Lantean Mainland_

The seven of them beamed down in the middle of the Athosian village. "Lights are on, but nobody's home," Daniel remarked. Their companion team began spreading out to search the area.

"Indeed," Teal'c replied. "It appears that they had time to pack before they left."

"Yeah, but they still left a lot of stuff," Daniel added, entering one of the tents. Inside were a several pots, one of them with no lid and devoid of any contents. The table was covered in various artifacts that would be interesting under less dire circumstances, and the bedrolls were gone. "I guess they knew the Wraith were coming."

"No doubt the Atlantis Expedition informed them," Teal'c guessed.

Daniel picked up a spoon. Wooden, although it seemed to have been carved using metal tools. Simple design, with little decoration, suggesting- damn it! Even he knew that this was no time for anthropology. Still, he made a mental note to come back some other time and talk to the Athosians.

"Doctor Jackson!" Captain Roberts' voice informed him over the comm net. "We've found something. You might want to take a look at this, sir."

In the centre of the village sat what looked like a pile of crudely stacked stones. On closer inspection, however, it was clear that it was not. Ancient lettering in black ink marked one of the stones, and several were arranged to point in a certain direction. A few glowsticks and a blinker light, all long since dead, were duct-taped to it.

"Looks like a marker, sir."

"Yeah, looks like it," Daniel agreed. "Let's see- this writing is a kind of butchered version of Ancient."

He paused for a moment, then oriented himself to face the direction the arrow was pointing. "They went to a systems of caves, that way, to hide from the Wraith. The Expedition was supposed to pick them up, but they didn't. Let's go."

* * *

_Atlantis_

"...one last thing," Carter added, after they had exchanged explanations. "They've developed a weapon that can go through shields and even our armour to a limited degree. I've tweaked your shields, so they should be able to block that weapon now."

"Well, thanks," Sheppard replied. "So, the plan is still to-"

"Drop the shield, yes. Once that's done, the Daedalus will be able to use its beaming technology."

"Beam the bad guys out into space?" Sheppard asked.

Carter shook her head. "No, more likely a holding cell. Wait." She held up her hand to stop, then unslung her shotgun. "Group of Jaffa coming straight for us."

Four Jaffa, wearing the same armour that McKay had observed, rounded the corner, staff rifles at the ready. Weir, Sheppard and Carter unleashed a torrent of gunfire. Two of the Jaffa staggered, then fell. The other two attempted to retreat, but were hampered by their heavy armour. They managed to shoot back a few times before being cut down.

"What the hell is that?" Sheppard asked.

"New armour," Carter replied. "First time I've seen it, too. I bet it's based on Kull technology."

"You have fifteen minutes left," Ba'al's voice announced. "Turn yourselves in, or I will kill Doctor McKay. That is all."

"We need to get moving," Carter said, increasing her speed to a sprint. The other two followed, easily matching her speed.

* * *

_Lantean Mainland_

A tall man with long, brown hair and a beard emerged from the trees. He waved them over. "You must be the people from Atlantis. Come, we are hiding in the caves this way."

They followed the man, who was identified automatically as Halling. Daniel corrected him. "Actually, we're not from Atlantis. We came here on a space ship. And you are?"

"I am Halling. You are from Earth?" Halling said.

"Yes, we're from Earth," Daniel continued. "This is Teal'c, Captain Roberts, Sergeant Lewis, Martha Brown, Corporal Chadad and Amanda Somers."

"Why did you come here?"

"We've been unable to make contact with Atlantis. Do you have any idea what happened?"

Halling stopped in his tracks. "I was hoping you would be able to tell me. They promised to evacuate my people and were supposed to arrive many hours ago. We sensed something was wrong when they did not, and we evacuated to these caves."

"You evacuated because of the Wraith?" Teal'c asked.

Halling nodded. "Yes, they will be here very soon. They told me that although it would come under attack, the city would be safer."

"A wise assumption," Teal'c commented.

"These caves are not as safe as I would like," Halling said, pushing aside a mass of brush. "But your kind has given my people hope. We will hide and fight if necessary."

On the other side was the smooth interior of a natural cave, illuminated by fires and filled with people. Pots and sacks of provisions sat against the wall, with bedrolls spread out inside. The group slowly walked inside. The people looked up at the new arrivals, some smiling and some cheering.

"Sir, the marker!" Captain Roberts interrupted. "It'll lead the Wraith straight here."

"Can we do anything about it?" Daniel asked.

"I could call in an orbital strike, but that might be a bit much."

"It's your call, Captain," Daniel assured her.

"Yes, sir. Daedalus, this is Captain Roberts..." Moments later, what looked like a meteor shower appeared in the sky. They were actually tungsten projectiles. Although there wasn't much left of them when they hit the ground, the long barrage was sufficient to wreck everything withing a ten metre radius of the marker. "Done and done, sir."

"Come," Halling beckoned. "We have prepared a strong tea and tuttleroot soup, you are welcome to join in. There is much to discuss."

* * *

_Atlantis_

Rodney McKay was very surprised when Ba'al opened the closet door and motioned him out. He briefly considered attempting to escape, but it was pointless. There were two armoured Jaffa escorting the goa'uld. Maybe if Teyla was awake- damn, they must have given her something really strong.

He followed the false god down a flight of stairs several levels, into a room he was quite familiar with. "You want me to get the control chair working."

"Yes, I need an interface, a way to fire the weapons of this city." He blocked McKay from sitting down in it. "I'm not that stupid, Doctor McKay. Or should I say, Meredith. You have one hour."

"What? I'm a genius, but we've tried this for months! Nobody could rig up an interface for the control chair in an hour!"

"All right then, if you are willing to give up your woman friend, I can make that two hours. Three for the doctor with the accent."

"Oh, come on, this is not fair!" Rodney whined.

Ba'al smirked. "Nothing is fair in love and war. A quote from one of your poet's is it not?"

"It's all's fair in love and war, not nothing's fair in love and war." Rodney quickly added, "But I'm a scientist, not an English major."

"Then I suggest you get working on the problem at hand." He turned to his Jaffa. "Give him what he needs, but be vigilant and watch for traps."

* * *

Ba'al's next destination was the infirmary. Doctor Beckett was waiting, guarded by a pair of Jaffa. "So, is the gene therapy ready?"

"Yes," the doctor gulped. "I can't believe I'm doing this. It's bloody insanity!"

"Come now, doctor, do you really want Rodney McKay's blood on your hands?"

Beckett muttered something about some kind of oath, then extracted a bottle from a cabinet. He filled a needle with it, then flicked the end and motioned to jab it into Ba'al. An iron grip stopped him.

"Drop the needle," Ba'al ordered, reverting to the distorted goa'uld voice. He twisted, causing Beckett to drop the syringe on the floor, where it cracked and splilled its contents. "Jaffa, give me that container."

He took the bottle and read the label. "Poison. You take me for a fool?" he asked Beckett.

"No," he squeaked.

Ba'al wanted to teach this insolent man a lesson, but there was no time for that. An explosion rocked the tower. That fool McKay. He released his grip. "Do what you wish with him, but keep him alive. Then put him with the others."

* * *

"It was an accident!" McKay protested. The chair room was filled with choking smoke. Though the chair itself was undamaged, one corner of the room was missing a chunk of wall, with the wiring and crystal circuitry exposed and damaged. Debris, mostly molten metal and smashed crystals, was strewn all over the floor. One of the Jaffa assigned to guard him lie dead in a pool of his own blood, armour full of holes and one leg shredded. The other held his weapon to McKay's head with his left arm, his right having been broken in the explosion.

"My lord, he sabotaged the control systems!" the Jaffa reported. "I believe he intended to kill us and escape."

"Of course," Ba'al acknowledged. "Doctor McKay, do you understand what happens to those that cross me?"

"Um, lawsuits?" McKay sputtered.

"Good guess, doctor, but no. They tend to experience large amounts of pain. One time, I killed a man several times, bringing him back again and again. Think about it, McKay."

"Guards, put him with the others. Give him a good primer lesson first," Ba'al ordered as he left the room.

* * *

Teyla woke up with a pounding headache. At first her vision was blurry, and she wasn't really aware of her surroundings. Slowly but surely, her vision cleared up and her awareness returned. She was in a small room, with nobody else in it. A storage closet, mostly empty. What happened?

Someone had invaded the city. She had not recognized them, but got the feeling they weren't from Earth. They wore black full body armour and carried weapons more like something the Wraith would use than something the humans of Earth would. As soon as they had arrived, they opened fire, killing several of the pilots. Doctor Weir was there, and Sheppard saved her life, taking her and leaving in a jumper. A wise decision. Teyla tried to fight, but another man, this one wearing elaborate robes rather than armour, shot her with a different weapon. She didn't know how, but it went right through her armour. One shot tingled a bit. Two shots caused numbness. Another, and she could barely stand. She remembered being hit twice more before blacking out.

They had obviously taken off her armour, and dressed her in one of the Atlantis uniforms. She pushed the implications of that out of her mind. Teyla could tell they weren't Wraith. Perhaps a faction from Sheppard's world? Whoever they were, the newcomers were hostile. They had pretended to be friendly- a classic sneak attack.

The sound of footsteps outside interrupted her thinking. Teyla quickly searched for some kind of weapon- anything would do. Spotting a pile of large nails, she took one. Moments later, one of the armoured men opened the door.

Teyla reacted quickly, bringing up the spike and driving it through the back of his neck. Or trying to, anyway. The thick armour absorbed most of the blow, cracking but successfully resisting the attack. He felt it, though, and dropped his weapon. Teyla dove for his legs, taking him to the ground with her.

"Stop!" a voice ordered. Teyla looked up, straight into one of the strange energy weapons. Another of the armoured men was on the other end of it. "You will come with me. Now."

The other one pushed Teyla up, rubbing the back of his neck. He retrieved his own weapon and followed them out, keeping it close to her back.

* * *

"All right, looks like five guys in the power room. Ba'al isn't totally unprepared." Sheppard removed a pair of flashbangs from his vest. "Think flashbangs will work on them?"

"It's worth a shot, Major," Carter replied over the radio. They had decided to each take a different route. "Remember, most things in there don't react well to bullets, so be careful. Go on three."

"One..." Sheppard pulled the pins on the flashbangs. Weir nervously checked her SMG, making sure that it was loaded properly with the safety off.

"Two..." Sheppard cracked the door slightly and tossed the flashbangs in. All three tensed themselves for the next step.

"Three! Breaching breaching!" Almost simultaneously, all three doors flew open and the flashbangs went off. Two of the Jaffa were looking straight at the flashbangs. They were blinded from the get-go. One took two blasts to the head from Carter's shotgun, the buckshot first smashing his helmet to pieces, then his skull. The other took a burst of SMG fire to the chest. The first few shots didn't penetrate, but they soon broke through and ripped into his ribcage.

The rest were more aware, and fired back. Having learned something about warfare, they took cover behind delicate equipment. Carter ignored the staff rifle fire slamming into her shields, dashing across the room and hopping over one of the consoles. Her right foot landed right on the Jaffa's elbow arm, breaking it with a sickening crack. He didn't have time to scream. Carter put two shells of buckshot into his face and neck, splattering his head rather gruesomely all over the floor.

Sheppard unslung his now-empty SMG and drew his pistol. This Jaffa was right beside the ZPM console, and he didn't want to know what would happen if you hit that with gunfire. Even as staff blasts threatened to drop his shields, he concentrated on aiming, putting all seven .50 AE rounds into the Jaffa's chest. The heavy rounds didn't penetrate immediately, but by the fourth bullet, the armour was too badly damaged to stop them. The large bullets obliterated the Jaffa's organs and his symbiote. The latter would have been a brutal, slow death, but he died before even realizing what had happened.

At the same time, Weir put the rest of her magazine into the last Jaffa. Seeing him still up and firing, she quickly reloaded, charging the Jaffa as she did so. The powerful energy blasts hit her shields, but she continued forward. She opened fire again at nearly point-blank. The armour-piercing rounds ripped through his legs and abdomen. He collapsed, and just to be sure, Weir stomped on his neck with her heavy boot. Blood seeped from bullet holes and his cracked helmet.

"Room clear!" Carter announced. "Zelenka, how do you shut off the power?"

* * *

Ba'al lined up the three rebels in plain view of the hostages in the control room. All three were bound, gagged and forced to their knees.

"Your friends tried to be heroes," he began. "Unfortunately, defying the gods will only bring more pain and suffering."

He pointed to three hostages, selecting randomly. Doctors Wagner and Abrams and Sergeant Cole. His Jaffa lined them up in similar positions. With ruthless efficiency, Ba'al drew a pistol- Earth made but not expedition issue. "This is the price you pay for disobeying your god-"

Suddenly, the lights went out and the consoles went dark. "What was that?" Ba'al asked, holstering the weapon.

"The power is out, my lord!" one of the Jaffa reported. "The shield is down."

"The Tau'ri," Ba'al yelled. "Get some Jaffa to the power room, I need that shield back up!"

* * *

_AES Daedalus_

"What do you mean you can't beam in?" O'Neill asked. "The shield is down, isn't it?"

"Yes, sir, but it's being jammed, must be something they brought with them," Marks reported.

"Damn it! We'll have to do this the old fashioned way. Colonel, load the A-3s with marines and launch them."

"Yes, sir," Caldwell gave the necessary orders.

"Sir, new contacts on the other side of the planet," the sensor officer interrupted. "Looks like two large vessels and four much smaller ones. They appear to be launching fighters."

"It's the Wraith," Caldwell said. "Battle stations, take us in, full military thrust."

"We have to keep them away from Atlantis," O'Neill mentioned. Without their shield, they would be vulnerable. But with it up, they wouldn't be able to insert. "And tell those marines to get the shield up as soon as they reach the city."

"That's what I intend to do, sir," Caldwell replied. "Load nuclear ordinance into all tubes and launch fighters."

General O'Neill found himself REALLY wishing they had brought the Athena.

* * *

Just one more episode to go- the conclusion to SGD Season One. Tell me what you think, and see if you can get all the references in there.


	25. S1E20 Downfall

It's the season finale, possibly the series finale. Enjoy this episode, but don't hesitate to slam it if you feel it sucks. As usual, more author's notes are at the end. I suggest you read them.

* * *

_Atlantis_

Rodney McKay knew a bad situation when he saw one. And this one was just about the worst there was. His hands were tied behind his back- incompetently, but he wasn't Harry Houdini. Teyla and Carson were similarly tied up. Armed Jaffa with a new kind of armour pointed a new kind of weapon (that he was pretty sure was the old kind of lethal) at his head. Their leader was both gloating at his accomplishment and holding more hostages at gunpoint.

"My lord," a voice crackled seemingly out of nowhere. Great, the goa'uld had radios now. "Multiple small craft are rapidly approaching our position!"

And to make it worse, the Wraith were here. Could it get any better?

Ba'al turned to one of his Jaffa. First Prime? "What of the Jaffa sent to the power room?"

"No response, my lord. I believe they have been wiped out."

A series of high-pitched whines could be heard outside, interspersed with explosions. That was really, really not good. The disembodied voice spoke again, "They are fighting each other, my lord! One group appears to be of an unidentified origin."

Ba'al turned to the human prisoners. He nodded at the Jaffa guards, who removed their gags. "Looks like your friends won't be joining us. Who are these newcomers?"

"Why the bloody hell should I tell you?" Carson spat.

"Well, doctor, you really have nothing to lose." Ba'al smirked.

"The Wraith cull humans and take their life from them," Teyla answered. "To resist them would be futile."

Rodney briefly snickered before remembering exactly where he was. There was shouting and the sound of alien weapons outside on the balconies. The Wraith had landed. Ba'al turned to his First Prime again. "Prepare the ship. We must leave now."

* * *

Samantha Carter swept her gun across the corridor. "Clear forward!"

Sheppard did the same. "Clear right!"

"Clear left!" Weir dropped the empty magazine out of her rifle and slammed in a new one.

"Room clear!" Carter paused to survey the damage. Seven Jaffa bodies lay dead on the floor, their blood soaking their boots. One of the Jaffa lay dead with his entrails spilling out of his armour, his face frozen in pain and his bloodied hands gripping them. Another was missing most of his head, but most of them were less gruesome. She tried to view the scene objectively, but found herself utterly sickened nonetheless.

"We need to get the shield back up!" Weir yelled as the structure shook. Several stories up, a dart had crash-landed into the side of the tower.

"Not until our guys get here," Sheppard countered.

"Either way, we need power back online," Carter replied, heading back into the power room. "You two stand guard, I'll try to get this working again."

A few taps on her wrist interface- a new holographic one- and she had live feeds from the Daedalus and Zelenka, overall status of AESF units, and technical information brought up. She picked up the ZPM and placed it back in its holder. No dice. They had ripped and torn to kill all power, and there wasn't even enough to take the ZPM. _Why did they need the fancy pedestal, couldn't they use a fucking socket? _"Zelenka, I'm going to need your help on this one!"

"We've got company!" Sheppard yelled. A group of Wraith drones marched through the corridor. He opened fire with his shotgun, buckshot tearing into their ranks. Most of them carried stunners, but one carried a much different weapon. It fired a long, thin glowing projectile that cut a sizable chunk out of his shields. "Better make it quick, this is not good!"

Totalling sixty-five people, the remaining civilian members of the expedition holed up in the massive main mess hall. Add just under a dozen military guards, and that well under half the population of the city. The rest were held hostage, missing, or worse. They were mostly aware of what was going on. A goa'uld had taken the tower, and now the Wraith had arrived.

However, they weren't prepared. Although every member of the expedition was issued with a set of armour, only two of the civilians and half the military contingent present were wearing them. An additional twenty or so were struggling into spare suits. Weapons weren't quite as scarce, with barely enough to go around. Everyone had been given a pistol, although limited ammo supplies left them with one magazine and a handful of cartridges each. The soldiers had a better assortment of weaponry.

Most of their supplies had been taken from a supply dump behind the kitchen. Though food and water was not a concern, they were running short on ammo with the Jaffa, then the Wraith, attempting to move in. Despite limited numbers, runners had to be sent to find ammunition.

With the shield down, however, the Daedalus could support them. Two SG teams and several crates of supplies appeared in a flash of light. More ammunition was immediately passed out, and the new arrivals joined in the fight.

* * *

_AES Daedalus_

The Daedalus was taking a beating. They were going up against a superior foe- two massive hive-ships and four cruisers. The handful of fighters the Daedalus had were attempting to defend Atlantis itself from the relentless darts, leaving the Daedalus without fighter support. Worse still, their most powerful weapons were ineffective. Nuclear missiles would be taken out by kamikaze darts long before they could hit the distant hive-ships.

"Shields down to forty-nine percent!" Marks reported as the ship rocked from another blast. The Daedalus was engaged in evasive manoeuvres, but the rapid fire rate of the Wraith weapons made up for that. And they were cripplingly powerful.

"Keep firing on the cruisers, no way we can take the hives with railguns alone." As Caldwell said it, the main railguns mounted on the bow of the Daedalus fired, ripping into a heavily damaged cruiser. The engines flickered and died, but it remained largely intact. Mission kill, good enough.

One down, three more to go.

* * *

_Lantean Mainland_

"I thought you said they wouldn't find us in these caves?" Captain Roberts asked, firing over the dirt berm. She cringed as a stunner bolt slammed into her shields.

"I did not think they could!" Halling replied. He swept aside a woven blanket, revealing an Earth-made plastic trunk full of weapons.

Wraith darts buzzed overhead in the night sky. The Wraith were creatures of the darkness, and the Tau'ri had night vision systems, but the Athosians would be severely hampered by the low light situation. The ones that could fight at all. They were safe from the dart culling beams inside the caves, but waves of Wraith drones were dropped to flush them out.

Expecting a simple recon mission, the soldiers hadn't brought heavy weapons or a large supply of ammunition with them. The waves of Wraith, however, were endless. Roberts slammed a new magazine- her second to last one- into her SCAR-H. "Sir, any chance we can get support from the Daedalus?"

Daniel Jackson nodded. "I can try. Daedalus, this is Daniel Jackson, do you read?"

"Danny!" Jack O'Neill replied. "What's up, buddy?"

"Jack, this isn't time for games! We've got Wraith hitting us hard, are running out of ammo and trying to defend a bunch of refugees. Can you beam us to Atlantis?"

"It's not that safe," O'Neill cautioned.

"It's better than here!" Daniel replied. A projectile hit him in the side, dropping his shields. He ducked back into cover, reloading as he did so.

"All right, but you're going to have to leave the caves. We'll beam out anything that isn't Wraith."

"What?"

"We must push outwards, Daniel Jackson," Teal'c answered. He fired his staff weapon at the attacking Wraith, killing one in a single shot to the head.

"That's crazy!" Daniel argued. They might be able to survive, but the villagers-

"Out!" Roberts yelled. She slung her rifle and pulled out a Desert Eagle pistol, snarling as she unloaded two rounds into a Wraith that had almost made it into the caves.

"We have no choice, Daniel Jackson," Teal'c insisted.

"All right, Halling, take your people and follow us close behind. Don't get hit, and make sure everyone gets out. Jack, don't beam us out until we give the all-clear."

"I will do that," Halling replied.

"Roger that, Daniel," the General acknowledged. "Break a leg."

"Go, go, go!" Captain Roberts vaulted over the mount, straight into a Wraith drone. Before he could draw his knife, she recovered, rolling to the side and driving her own knife into his gut. She pulled it out and jumped to her feet, slashing repeatedly. Her knife and gauntlets were covered in blood by the time she was done, severing the alien's throat.

Beside her, the others opened fire with whatever they had left. Their unexpected charge pushed the Wraith back, giving them a small space to work with. As soon as an Athosian had exited the cave, he or she was beamed up. The Wraith poured fire into the area, hoping to take some of them out. Indeed, some of the Athosians had been stunned before being beamed out. The Darts, thankfully, could not get close enough to the cave to cull anyone.

"We got everyone?" Daniel asked. He dropped his empty pistol and picked up a Wraith stunner.

"There is one more group," Halling answered. "Just the five of-"

A Wraith drone had managed to sneak around them in the heat of battle, firing his stunner into the open cave mouth. He was cut down immediately, but not before stunning all of the remaining Athosians.

"Great, now we have to drag them out!" Sergeant Lewis complained. He holstered his empty revolver and ran back into the cave, ignoring the stunner bolt that dissipated against his armour. Three of the others followed him, roughly dragging the remaining Athosians out as the rest struggled to hold the position.

"I don't think we can last much longer, sir!" Roberts shouted. One of the drones was right on top of her. She stabbed it through the heart, the wound spraying deep red blood. To finish the job, she slashed across chest and abdomen. Another Wraith came up to take his place, and she shot him with the first one's stunner.

"Roger that, we've got them!" Daniel replied. "Jack, this would be a good time to beam us out of here!"

"Uh, we're having some trouble with the transporters," O'Neill replied.

"Oh, he's got to be taking a piss!" Lewis yelled.

"Well, we sure as hell can't stay here!" Roberts impaled one of the Wraith on his own weapon. "How long?"

"We don't know, it's totally scrambled."

"The cave system is extensive," Teal'c said calmly. "We can hide in there."

"You heard the man. Grab what you can, let's move out."

* * *

_Atlantis_

Two A-3s, the entire complement of the Daedalus, had been dispatched to Atlantis. The idea was that it would be faster than beaming troops to another area of the city and also add an element of surprise.

Well, that was flat out fucking wrong.

Major DeLoria's craft shuddered as another of the Wraith energy bolts slammed into it. He ignored the warning lights, piloting the ship straight toward the control tower. Three Darts were on their tail, and there was nothing they could do about it, especially in atmosphere. The Wraith had been hounding them endlessly since they had launched, delaying their arrival. The other A-3 was taking even more hits, and he watched it wobble and fall away toward the city below. "Fuck the nice landing. Boys and girls, you might want to hold on tight."

Forcing one last burst of power out of the damaged engines, DeLoria pulled the craft slightly to the right, aiming directly at the window in the gateroom. It wouldn't be comfy like the initially planned balcony insertion, but was just as good from a tactical standpoint. And the ship was a lost cause anyway. He braced himself for the impact and slammed the throttles all the way to emergency backthrust.

The restraints held him from smashing his face on the control panel, but Major DeLoria felt the deceleration everywhere in his body. The nose of the craft easily smashed through the window, then impacted against the rear of the stargate. It was designed to fit through one, but not at an angle. The immovable ring ripped into the thin metal of the A-3, tearing through the starboard wingroot and fuselage. The spaceship would never fly again, but thankfully it did not catch fire or explode.

Carter looked up briefly, feeling an impact rock the city. A less pronounced one followed.

"What the hell was that?" Weir asked. She gunned down a Wraith as they approached through the corridor. The black-and-white infrared night vision system just made it all the more unsettling. She didn't like killing, but was _not_ giving up her city without a fight.

"That's our people, one jumper crashed not far from here," Sheppard replied. He slid more shells into his shotgun, then racked the forearm grip and discharged a load of buckshot into one of the aliens. He had considerably less reservations about killing. "The other is securing the control room."

"Roger that, I'm vectoring the survivors here." Carter picked up a laptop that had been left in the power room. She had reconnected the naquadah generators, now she had to bring them back online. Her gloved fingers flew over the keyboard, entering in the control sequence Zelenka gave to her.

"Halfway there!"

The lights flickered back on, and Weir immediately shut off her night vision. She thumbed more shells into her shotgun, not noticing the Wraith dashing towards her until they were within a meter of each other. Reflexively, she discharged the weapon. At point blank, the buckshot tore ugly holes through the drone's chest, splattering more blood onto the gruesomely coated corridor. Another round tore through his neck.

"A little more than halfway!" Carter corrected, placing the ZPM into its holder and giving it a gentle push. It slid down into the pedestal automatically. "Done! We should have power now."

She grabbed her shotgun from the table and headed to Weir's side, where most of the Wraith seemed to be attacking. Was there any end to them?

* * *

Captain Teldy slowly picked herself up off the floor of the A-3. It was totalled- the cockpit was totally smashed, with both pilots reduced to amorphous blobs of flesh. Both of the stubby wings had sheared off and there was a massive hole in the port side of the jumper. She quickly checked herself for injuries. Nothing broken. She still had her rifle, though the strap was torn. With a few taps on her wrist, she initiated an armour diagnostic. "Dusty, still with us?"

Another woman in armour pushed herself out from under a pile of twisted metal. "Yes, ma'am."

"Lieutenant Vega?"

"Here, ma'am," Vega replied, sticking her helmeted head out of the remains of the cockpit. "Looks like both pilots are dead, though."

"Doctor Porter?"

A fourth woman shakily got to her feet. "Yeah, I'm still here."

"All right, grab what you can, we're moving out to the power room."

* * *

By the time the pilots had begun unstrapping themselves, Major Lorne and his marines were already out of the craft and were checking the room.

"Clear left!" Lieutenant Cadman shouted, sweeping her rifle around. The lights flickered back on as she did so.

"Clear right!" Sergeant Coughlin added.

"Room clear! Cadman, bugs and bombs!"

"Just this, sir, probably what's been jamming our equipment," Lieutenant Cadman said, tossing her CO a small black box.

He crushed it beneath his boot. "Hostages, get them!"

Rodney McKay was shocked by their method of arrival. Didn't these idiots have any idea what they were doing? You do not crash a glorified puddle jumper into a ten thousand year old stained glass window! Nevertheless, he yelled for help. A woman in powered armour cut his bonds away with a knife, then moved on to Carson.

"Thank you, lass," the Scottish doctor said, beaming at her. Behind the dark faceplate, she smiled. Teyla had already slipped out of her bonds five minutes prior.

"Doctor McKay, I presume?" another of the armoured troops, this one clearly male, asked. His nametag identified him as LORNE, and his rank badge as either Captain or Major- Rodney couldn't remember which was which.

"Yeah, that's me," he replied weakly.

"I need you to get the shield up."

"What, no hello, how are you, are you okay- I've been a prisoner for the last couple hours!" The turned his head to look at him. Rodney was sure there was a death glare under that visor. "All right, all right, the shield."

One of the fearsome Wraith warriors emerged from an open doorway, immediately gunned down by concentrated fire. "I suggest you get a move on, McKay. We've got company!"

* * *

"They're still coming!" Sheppard yelled, adding to the pile of bodies with a load of buckshot. "How many of these bastards are there?"

Weir tossed aside her shotgun, having no ammunition left for it. She drew her SMG and fired into the gathering crowd. The Wraith actually had to step over the bodies of their comrades, but they didn't seem to understand the concepts of morale or self-preservation.

"Reinforcements are coming!" Carter shouted, her eyes flicking briefly to her HUD. Also having completely expended her shotgun shells, she ripped into a Wraith drone with 5.7mm rounds from her M91.

Suddenly, bursts of assault rifle rifle ripped through the Wraith ranks from behind. Two armoured women approached through each corridor, ripping effortlessly through the drones. Carter's HUD instantly identified them as Teldy and her team. "Good timing!"

"Thank you, ma'am," Captain Teldy replied. Her team moved into the room and took up defensive positions, two on each entrance.

* * *

_AES Daedalus_

Another powerful Wraith weapon slammed into the Daedalus. "Shields down to thirty percent! Ventral railgun is out of action."

"This isn't working!" General O'Neill complained. None of their missiles had hit, and they were taking a beating from the main guns on the hive-ships and cruisers. The Darts were mostly focused on Atlantis and defending the Wraith ships, and the railgun batteries and Star Streak missiles ripped apart the ones that got too close.

Caldwell nodded acknowledgement. He issued a new set of orders, and the Daedalus pivoted hard to the left, accelerating at all ahead flank. Until then, they had been keeping a decent range to the Wraith ships. Now, they were going in hard. The vessel shuddered as more Wraith energy pulses slammed into their shields. The Daedalus hit back with her main railguns and secondary battery.

"Shields at twenty percent! Main battery offline, number three engine is failing!"

"Ready all missile tubes!" Caldwell ordered, holding tightly on to his chair. He watched the distance count down. Through the window, they could see the hive-ships getting bigger and bigger, showing their truly massive size. More of the Wraith energy weapons slammed into the Daedalus, and the darts were starting to make kamikaze runs.

"Shields at ten percent. Number three engine is offline, we have hull damage and starboard railguns have expended ordinance."

"Now would be a good time to open fire," O'Neill suggested.

"Not yet," Caldwell said, waiting just a bit longer. After what seemed like an eternity, he gave the order. "All missile tubes, fire! Come about and get us the hell out of here."

At the extremely close range the missiles were launched at, the darts had no hope of intercepting more than a quarter of them. Even when they did, the detonations did significant collateral damage, sacrificing ten darts instead of one. The rest of the missiles found their marks. Of the sixteen missiles fired, ten hit their targets. Four slammed into the vulnerable dart bay of each hive-ship. The enhanced nuclear warheads completely obliterated one of the ships, the other being slightly luckier and only having one side blown to pieces, completely disabling the vessel. The other two missiles hit the same cruiser, reducing it to a cloud of wreckage.

The communications officer turned around to face his superiors. "Sir, we've received word from Atlantis. Power restored and shield online."

"And the mainland team?" O'Neill asked.

The officer shook his head. "Nothing, sir."

"Sir, the remaining cruiser is entering hyperspace," the sensor officer reported. "I can't believe it, sir, we've won!"

General O'Neill had the sinking feeling that they hadn't won at all.

* * *

_Lantean Mainland_

Captain Roberts emptied the clip of her AK-103 into the Wraith drone. He staggered and fell to the ground, joining his compatriots. "Was that the last one?"

"I think it was," Sergeant Lewis replied.

"Indeed," Teal'c said.

"So, are we leaving now?" Amanda asked, brandishing another of the Kalashnikov rifles.

"We probably should," Daniel replied. "Either they're gone or they've got something nasty planned for us."

They left the way they came in. The darkness of the cave should have covered up the bodies and pools of blood somewhat, but their night vision systems compensated for that. The cave systems were confusing, but they managed to reach the cave mouth without getting lost. The Athosians' possessions lay abandoned on the ground. Outside, it was still dark, but the sky was clear, free of any of the Wraith darts.

"I guess we won," Roberts remarked.

* * *

_Atlantis_

"What is it, McKay?" Major Lorne asked. The scientist was hammering furiously on a variety of consoles and computers.

"I'm trying to get sensors back online, so we can figure out what's going on." The Wraith attacks had mostly subsided when the shield went up, like the supply of troops had simply run out. Still, it wouldn't be too much to assume that there were still a few pockets left here and there. "Oh, no. No, no, no!"

"What is it?" Lorne asked again.

"Wraith Darts, about a hundred of them. They've all turned around and are headed for the city."

"Why the hell would they do that?"

"It's a suicide run. The Daedalus must have taken out their hive-ships and now there's nowhere for them to go."

"But we have the shield, right?"

"Right, because having a shield above our heads makes it perfectly fine!" McKay replied sarcastically. He took a deep breath. "Yes, it will probably stop the darts."

"Probably? Doc, didn't that thing hold back an ocean?"

"Look, you can never predict anything with total certainty, especially ten thousand year old technology. It's-" A bright flash came through the windows. "Well, it's held against the first one."

"We can hold the power room," Teldy told Weir. "It's your city, you should get to the control room."

She nodded. "Colonel, Major. Let's get moving."

The trip up the tower was eerily quiet, with no enemies in sight. Still, there were signs of battle everywhere. Slick pools of blood and bodies of the Wraith drones littered the hallways and staircase. One of their own was among them, bloody holes punched in his armour. Bullet impacts and energy burns covered the walls.

The control room was chaotic, with people scrambling all over trying to get the city running again. The stained glass window behind the stargate was gone, replaced with a gaping hole and wreckage that was once an A-3. Several bodies, expedition and Jaffa, were pushed to the side, leaving streaks of blood on the floor.

Everyone turned as they entered the room. Major Lorne was the first to speak, reporting, "Control room secured, ma'am."

"Rodney?" Weir asked. She removed her helmet and set it down on a console, letting her hair back down.

"We've got the ZPM hooked in and the shield is back up. Held the inbound darts no problem."

"Get me city sensors, I need to know where everybody is and if there are any Wraith around." Damn, it felt good to be back in charge.

"One sec... there we go!" the scientist reported. "Seems like mostly everyone went to the main mess hall. Hold on- this can't be right. There are more people there than the total complement of the expedition."

"The Athosians," Carter explained. "The Daedalus beamed them to Atlantis."

"And the Wraith?"

"Pockets remaining all over the city," Rodney replied.

Weir turned to the military officers. "Clear out the Wraith, do whatever you need to."

As they began issuing orders, she turned back to Rodney. "What about the goa'uld?"

"Uh, they seem to have headed back to their ship, which is just sitting there." He paused for a moment. "Looks like it's what the remaining Wraith are heading for."

* * *

Zelenka had little to do but wait in the jumper. The control room had been retaken, and the shield was back up. Idly, he toyed with the external sensors. It was that or play Tetris.

Lieutenant Chadad had even less to do. She paced back and forth inside the jumper. Combat wasn't a good thing, but she wished _something_ would happen. She stopped suddenly. Wish fulfilled.

"What is it?" Zelenka asked, sensing the tension.

"Lifesigns, four of them," Chadad replied. "I will be right back."

She moved slowly out the back of the jumper, rifle in hand. The hatch slid shut behind her. Her eyes flicked to her HUD, more specifically the tracking display. Right around the corner, heading toward her. She crouched and waited.

The first Wraith to round the corner didn't get the chance to realize what killed him. Ten 7.62x51mm rounds ripped through his neck and head, some proceeding to impact the squadmate behind him. Another burst took that one down as well. The rest of the magazine Shira dumped into the third Wraith, injuring but not killing him. There was no time to reload.

Lieutenant Chadad dove under the incoming weapons fire, ignoring the stunner blast that hit her shields. In one smooth motion, she drew her machete and severed the injured drone's legs at the ankle. The other Wraith, this one quite clearly not one of the mindless drones, attempted to impale her on his stun rifle. It crunched against her armour, and startled the Wraith, giving Chadad an opening. In a split second, she jumped to her feet and rammed the blade through the alien's heart, or at least where it would have been on a human.

The location was the same. Dark red blood poured from the wound, soaking her knife and hands. Shira pulled the machete out and removed the Wraith's head with it. She wiped her knife on his clothing and retrieved her rifle, reloading it as she jogged back to the jumper.

"My god, what happened?" Zelenka asked, noticing the splattered blood. "Nevermind, that's not important now."

He turned his tablet to show the Lieutenant. "What does that look like to you?"

The image was distorted and difficult to see, but she figured it out after a moment. "A hive-ship battlegroup."

* * *

Ba'al sat on the (ugly, but surprisingly comfortable) command chair, pondering his options. There was nobody to discuss the matter with. One of the downsides to being a god was that one could not ask mere mortals for advice.

They were, in a word, trapped. With the shield up, they could not simply take off and leave. There was no way to drop it, either. He couldn't hack the system remotely, and trying to get back to the tower to do it manually would be suicide. The Wraith were pouring toward the ship, and the Tau'ri would be right behind them.

No, they couldn't wait. He would have to act now. Ba'al had learned two things from his adversaries. The first was that the craziest plans worked the best. The second was that if you were going to go down, you should go down fighting.

"Bring the engines to full power. Set course for the tower and ready all weapons."

"Huh, that's weird," Rodney muttered.

"What is it?" Weir asked.

"I'm detecting an energy spike from the goa'uld ship, like they were taking off. But there's no way they can get through the shield."

"They're not going through the shield," Sheppard and Carter said at the same time.

"Oh, crap!" Rodney exclaimed. "You're right, they're not. The ship is headed straight for the control tower."

"Evacuate the tower!" Weir ordered. "Surface-to-air missiles, get them up and running. Can we scramble jumpers?"

Sheppard shook his head. "No way, they'll never be up in time, and the SAMs won't do shit."

He paused for a moment. "What the hell am I talking about, we've got a kickass weapon!"

"Like what?" Rodney asked cynically.

"The control chair!" Sheppard said, running toward the stairwell.

"It doesn't work!" Rodney shouted after him.

"We didn't have a ZPM before!" Sheppard countered, running down the stairs.

"No, it doesn't work even with the ZPM! I broke it on purpose!"

Sheppard came back up the stairs. "You did WHAT?"

"Look, Ba'al would have used it to destroy the Daedalus! And I almost killed the two Jaffa guards with it."

"You destroyed our only offensive weapon?"

"I didn't-"

"Gentlemen," Weir interrupted. "We don't have time to argue. ETA?"

"Less than one minute and counting," Rodney said. The tower shuddered as small explosions dotted the outer surface. "Well, that's just great. Now they're shooting at us."

"Drop the shield," Sheppard ordered.

"What? Are you out of your mind?"

"Just do it, McKay!" Carter yelled. She immediately caught on to what Sheppard was thinking.

"Fine! If we all die, it's not my fault."

* * *

Ba'al allowed himself a smile. It was not impossible he would survive the crash. Even if he didn't, he would die with the satisfaction of taking several of his worst enemies with him. Sadly, that did not include O'Neill, but the beautiful Samantha, idealistic Daniel and the shol'va Teal'c would be enough. And there would always be one to take his place. "Time to impact?"

"Fifteen seconds," his First Prime reported. That would be about... twenty-one Long Slithers? "It has been an honour, my lord."

Suddenly, the protective bubble above the city dropped. Less than a second later, a stream of fire poured from the sky. Meteorites?

The railgun rounds ripped through the already-damaged starship. It jerked violently to the left and began losing altitude. Already skimming the top of the city, there was no room to manoeuvre. It smashed into the side of a tower, destroying it and continuing to plough into another at an angle. The port side of the ship was torn off, but the rest continued, reaching what would be street level and cartwheeling violently. Once the pride of the Trust and then the secret weapon of the Goa'uld, the ship known officially only as Project 941 was now nothing but a streak of wreckage on an ancient city.

Ba'al crawled out of the twisted metal. He was in great pain, and would die if he did not find a new host soon. Any of the Jaffa would willingly take him, but they were all in even worse shape. He crawled away from the burning wreckage and lay still, barely breathing.

What looked like a pale human in what appeared to be a black leather tunic kicked him. He was surrounded by four muscular warriors with the same skin tone, but faces covered with bone masks. All carried weapons more along the lines of what the goa'uld would build, not the Tau'ri.

So, these were the Wraith. "You are different," the Wraith hissed. He grabbed Ba'al roughly by the throat and hauled him up. Stronger than a human, except when they were wearing that infernal armour.

"I am Ba'al," he replied in the distorted goa'uld voice. "You will bow before your god."

"An amusing offer," the Wraith replied. He drove his other hand into the chest of Ba'al's host, sending racking pain through his body. Suddenly, the Wraith's eyes went wide, and he dropped the lifeless body to the ground.

"We must leave," the Wraith said, turning to his drones.

* * *

"The last pockets of Wraith resistance are being mopped up, ma'am," Lorne reported.

Weir nodded. "And the goa'uld vessel?"

"As good as gone," Rodney McKay said. "The wreckage probably did a bit of damage to the city, but anything that was on that ship is dead."

"So we're in the clear." Weir exhaled. Was it finally over?

"No, we're not," Zelenka gasped, running into the room. Lieutenant Chadad followed him, easily keeping pace. "Twelve more hive-ships, they're headed for the city."

"They must have called for reinforcements," Sheppard suggested. "What hit us was only the first wave."

"I doubt we can stop twelve hive-ships, even with the shield," Weir said. "Daedalus, what's your status?"

"Totally screwed," General O'Neill replied. "Life support is barely working right now. Until Stevie can get this tub running again, we're going to need the protection of Atlantis' shield as much as you do."

"So, that's a no-go on offensive action?"

"I'm afraid so, Doctor. We do have a little present for you, though." Daniel, Teal'c, and SG-114 appeared in a flash of light.

"This is amazing," Daniel said immediately, examining the architecture. "This city must be- who the hell drove the ship through the window?"

"That would be me, sir, and I am very sorry," Major DeLoria replied. Daniel just glared back.

"Gentlemen, if the introductions are complete, we need a-"

"Dart!" McKay shouted. "We've got a Wraith Dart taking off from the east pier."

"SAM sites, I want that thing gone!" Weir ordered.

"Too late," McKay shook his head. "The Dart is making a beeline to orbit."

"Daedalus?"

"Negative," Caldwell replied over the radio. "Most weapons are offline and we've already begun landing procedures."

"But why would they leave now?" Weir asked. "The Wraith are willing to do suicide runs, so it's not survival."

"Probably to go and tell their fleet of hive-ships that we're not dead!" McKay replied.

"No, it doesn't have a hyperdrive," Carter countered. "They'd have to wait for the hives to get here. Besides, they already know."

"Maybe they will give a more detailed report," Zelenka suggested.

"It's not headed toward the hives at all," McKay reported. "It seems to be headed... toward Lantea II."

"The weapons satellite," Sheppard said. "We need to go after it."

"Agreed," Weir nodded. "Major, take a jumper. Everyone else, I need ideas on how to defend the city. Zelenka, how far out are those hives?"

He shrugged. "Maybe a day or two to get to this system and a few more hours to this planet."

"Major, take Doctors Grodin and Abrams with you. If you can get that satellite working, that'll be something."

"What, not me?" McKay asked.

"No, you're going to fix the control chair you blew up." Weir spoke with a slightly accusatory tone.

"Oh, come on, it was not my fault!"

"Just fix it," Weir snapped. "Colonel, would you-"

"I would be happy to help," Carter replied.

"Major Lorne?"

"Yes, ma'am?"

"Get everyone suited up and armed. I want the control tower fortified, and the power room as well."

"Yes, ma'am." After that, Lorne appeared to just be standing there, but was actually spouting out orders into the communications net.

"Doctor Beckett, get your staff together and prepare to receive casualties."

The doctor nodded, then hurried out of the control room.

"Oh, and welcome to Atlantis, Doctor Jackson. I just wish it could be under better circumstances."

* * *

_Jumper One_

"That's not a Dart," Sheppard remarked as the Wraith spacecraft came within view. "It's too big."

"Maybe it's a bigger version... a Heavy Dart," Grodin suggested.

Sheppard almost rebuffed the comment, but the statement brought back pangs of memory of Lieutenant Ford. They would survive the Wraith, they had to. It wasn't over, wouldn't be over until the Genii felt his wrath. John shook the thoughts out of his head. "Heavy Dart sounds good."

With nothing but a thought, two drones came out of the weapons pods, steaking toward the Wraith ship. Less than a second before they hit, a shimmering hyperspace window appeared in front of the vessel and it disappeared into hyperspace. The drones shut down, drifting through space.

"I guess it has a hyperdrive, too," Grodin said. "But where is it going?"

"No idea, he's gone. Let's just go and get that satellite working."

* * *

_Atlantis_

Elizabeth Weir strolled outside onto the balcony. A cup of tea was cradled in her gloved left hand. She found it relaxing to stand there, looking over the city and the broad ocean. And right now, more than ever, she needed some time to think. She was not, however, expecting anyone else there.

"General O'Neill," Weir acknowledged. "I wasn't expecting to see you here."

"It's a nice city," O'Neill said, "Would be a shame to lose it."

"I have faith in my people. We'll defend the city."

"Or die trying." O'Neill chuckled. "Even if we win here, the Wraith are still out there. And you know as well as I do that they're just going to keep coming back for more. I know you want to save Atlantis. Hell, so do I."

"But we might have to destroy it," Weir finished. "I'm well aware of that possibility, General. And I'm willing to push the button if it becomes necessary. I'm just really, really hoping it's not."

"Elizabeth!" Rodney shouted, running onto the balcony. He noticed the other person. "Oh, General O'Neill, I wasn't expecting to find you here."

Turning back to the expedition leader, he continued. "We have a problem. Sam and I got the chair working again- she was a big help, by the way- but I don't think it'll do us much good."

"Why the hell not?" O'Neill asked. He had personally decimated a goa'uld fleet with one of those a year earlier.

"There are only a few hundred drones left," Sam answered, coming up behind Rodney at a much calmer pace. She had left her helmet on, probably to keep connected to the battlenet, but left her faceplate clear. "That's maybe one hive-ship and a few Darts."

O'Neill resisted the urge to stare. The form-fitting armour was actually quite flattering, despite the lack of cleavage and unexposed midriff. "Carter, the outpost in Antarctica had thousands of the damn things!"

"The outpost didn't have to defend itself against a fleet of Wraith ships," Rodney argued. "Look, the Ancients probably used up the drones in the attack that made them leave in the first place."

"So, the drones are useless?" Weir asked.

"Like Sam said, maybe one hive and a few darts, or a handful of cruisers."

"Well, so much for that idea," O'Neill quipped. "Alright, what else do we have?"

"Several surface-to-air missile batteries," Carter replied.

"Which are useless against hives and now redundant against darts."

"A few dozen nuclear warheads," the Colonel continued. "More if we borrow from the Daedalus."

"And what would we do with those? Make them into mines and place them in orbit with puddle jumpers?" McKay asked sarcastically.

"All right, what do we have that we can use?" Weir asked.

"The satellite, if they can get it working, is probably good for a hive or two, at the least, though I'd like to stress the get it working part," Rodney McKay replied. "The drones can take out a hive or maybe a couple of cruisers."

"If every fighter launches both its missiles," Carter continued. "That's three move hive-ships destroyed, theoretically at least. In practice, one or two."

"That doesn't add up to twelve," O'Neill complained. "So, we're boned."

"Well, I wouldn't go that far, I mean, they're not here yet, are they?"

"Keep me posted," Weir finished. "And if you can rig up any more potential weapons, I suggest you get on it."

* * *

_Ancient Weapon Satellite_

"Power is coming back online," Peter Grodin said as the lights flickered, then came on. "Activating artificial gravity."

Sheppard, who had been floating halfway up the compartment, came crashing down to the floor. "Ow. Couldn't you have warned me?"

"Sorry, Major, I wasn't expecting it to come on so quickly."

"Yeah, yeah, it's all right. What about the weapon?"

Grodin connected his laptop to one of the control panels. "Well, we have power now, but it seems there is another problem."

"Like what?"

"Uh, the power isn't getting to the weapon itself," Abrams explained. "The satellite is designed to store charge from a small power source such as our naquadah generator and discharge it in one big pulse. Peter, there should be some kind of buffer or capacitor."

"I think I found something like that," the other scientist said. He brought up a different screen on his laptop. "Yes, power is at ninety percent."

"So, power's getting to the buffer but not the weapon?" Sheppard asked. Peter nodded. "Well, what's between the buffer and the weapon?"

"These power conduits," Peter pointed out. "They are severed and need to be repaired or replaced."

"Or routed around," Abrams added.

"Or rerouted," he agreed. "I think I can... damn."

"What?"

"The conduits. They're on the outside. Someone's going to have to go for a spacewalk."

"Well, at least we brought a thruster pack," Sheppard muttered wryly. "Guess we'll have to draw straws."

"We don't have any straws. Does anyone have a pencil?" Grodin asked.

Sheppard fished in his tac vest for one. Finding it, he snapped it in three and flattened the tops. Each drew a pencil, and Abrams found himself with the short one. "Damn it."

Dr. Grodin patted him on the back. "Don't worry, you'll be fine. Major Sheppard-"

"Jumper, right."

* * *

_Atlantis_

"What if the Wraith don't know we're here?" Carter asked, examining the control chair circuits.

Rodney McKay looked up from his laptop. "What do you mean?"

"We both know what the Wraith's real target is- Earth. The only way they can get to Earth- that they know of, anyway- is here."

"So?"

"I've been thinking. See, we've been focusing on this battle, not the long run. The Wraith will be back, whether it's in a week or a year. As long as they know we're here, they'll keep coming."

"So we do what? Submerge the city? They'll detect us anyway, and I'm not sure if we can even do that anymore. Take off and leave? The engines probably don't even work. Wait, you want to cloak the city?"

Carter nodded. "I've been looking at the technical information on Atlantis' shield, and it looks to me that the technology is fairly similar to the cloak used on a puddle jumper. I think we can rig it up to work as a cloak."

She picked up a tablet and showed it to Rodney. "My god, you're right."

* * *

_Ancient Weapons Satellite_

The spacewalk was not as bad as Dr. Abrams expected. Despite the fact that it was a suit of armour in addition to a vacuum suit, the Aegis armour was much less cumbersome than a space suit. The satellite was designed without any handholds, never intended to be serviced from the outside. The thruster pack on his back pushed him gently toward the side of the satellite.

"Oh, man, this is not good," Abrams muttered. "Looks like the satellite took a hit- that's probably what severed the conduit."

"Roger that," Grodin replied. "The panel should be on your right."

Abrams activated his magnetic boots, locking him to the satellite. He removed the panel, revealing a row of cylindrical objects with handles. "This is some kind of power diverter panel, right?"

"Correct. The bottom two on the right need to be activated."

"It turns both ways!" he said after trying one of them. He pushed it all the way to the right.

"Wrong way," Grodin said, and Abrams turned it back the other way. "That looks good. Now the other one."

"It's like a damn quadruple bypass," Abrams muttered. "The shot must have cut right through the main power conduit."

"Power to the weapon has been restored," Grodin replied. "You can come back now."

Abrams activated the thruster pack again. A short burst propelled him away from the satellite and into the back of the jumper, where he immediately felt the artificial gravity. Sheppard closed the rear hatch and re-pressurized the rear compartment.

* * *

_Atlantis_

"So you can make the city disappear?" General O'Neill asked, resting his feet on the conference table.

Colonel Carter replied. "By integrating the control crystals from a jumper's cloak, we can set up the proper pha-"

"Carter!"

"Yes, sir, I think we can do it."

"There's one flaw in your plan," Caldwell added. "The Wraith know we have cloaking tech. They're not going to go for it if the city suddenly just disappears."

"Ah, but you see, I thought of that," Rodney replied smugly. "We'll have the Daedalus beam a nuke above the city to simulate a self-destruct. While their sensors are blinded, we switch from shield to cloak."

"Am I right in thinking that the cloak and shield are mutually exclusive?" O'Neill asked. Carter nodded. "Then if this fails, the Wraith are going to blow the city to hell."

"Which we were going to do anyway if things got bad enough," Weir mentioned. "Does anyone have any better ideas?"

There was a chorus of "nope", "no," and "uh-uh". "All right then. If the situation comes to it, we will evacuate all non-essential personnel to the Daedalus, just in case this gets ugly. You can take the dialling crystal, but the ZPM has to stay for obvious reasons. The we'll attempt to cloak the city."

"Do you think the Wraith will buy it?" O'Neill asked.

"If they don't, we're screwed anyway."

* * *

_Ancient Weapons Satellite_

"Alright, this is not good," Sheppard said. The jumper refused to lock on to the docking collar. "When you diverted power, did you divert it away from the airlock?"

"I must have," Abrams said with a hint of guilt.

"Well, looks like you'll have to do it the old fashioned way," Sheppard said.

"I can't, there's an interlock," Grodin replied. "With the airlock open, the weapon will not fire."

"Should I go back and fix it?" Abrams asked.

"No, don't bother," Grodin replied. "Someone is going to have to stay behind anyway. The automatic firing control also seems to be offline."

"Alright, I don't like this, but I'll roll with it," Sheppard replied. "If anything goes wrong, don't hesitate. Just get the hell out of there."

They waited a few minutes before the group of hive-ships appeared, shooting out of hyperspace. Each hive-ship had three cruisers accompanying it, totalling forty-eight ships in all. As Sheppard watched from a safe distance with the jumper cloaked, Grodin powered up the satellite.

Targeting the first hive-ship, the satellite pivoted around. A greenish stream of energy shot from its tip and cleaved straight through the lead hive-ship, destroying it in one shot. The rest of the ships turned toward the once-dormant satellite and accelerated.

"Something's wrong," Sheppard said. "If he could fire, he would have done it by now. Grodin, what's your status?"

"It looks like the circuit we rerouted has overloaded," Grodin replied. "The weapon can't fire again."

"Can you fix it?" Sheppard asked.

"No."

"I'm coming back, get the hell out of there!"

Grodin shut down the artificial gravity on the control panel, then jumped from the bottom of the shaft, floating to the top. Outside, the first shots slammed into the delicate satellite. Grodin pulled the emergency release handle and the doors popped open. Air rapidly left the satellite through the opening. Taking a deep breath, he jumped through.

The most eerie part was the silence. Even as the satellite was destroyed in a fiery explosion, he could hear nothing from it. Without a thruster pack, he floated uncontrollably. Hopefully the Wraith didn't notice or care about him.

The familiar form of a jumper appeared in front of him, lined up so that he would drift through the door. As soon as he was in, Sheppard shut the rear hatch and reactivated the cloak, quickly pulling away from the incoming Wraith weapon fire. "Atlantis, this is Sheppard, confirm one kill. Satellite destroyed, we are RTB. Out."

* * *

_Atlantis_

General O'Neill was the first to break the silence. "Well, so much for that idea."

Weir nodded sagely. "Put me on city-wide."

"The past few days have been tense. First the goa'uld took the control tower and held the city hostage. Then the Wraith arrived, and during our attempt to retake the city, invaded. With the help of the Daedalus, we pushed them back. We won against all odds.

"As you probably know by now, the Wraith have returned with larger numbers. The Daedalus is in no shape to fight, the satellite has been destroyed, and we don't have many drone weapons left. There's no telling how long the shield will hold under continuous bombardment.

"We've come up with a plan to make it appear as if the city has been destroyed. There is no guarantee it will work, and if it does not, Atlantis will be destroyed. All non-essential personnel are to be evacuated to the Daedalus, just in case. You all know what to do.

"During the past year, you all have accomplished extraordinary things. I wish I could promise you that this is a fight we will win, but I can't do that. I wish I could tell you that we will survive, but I can't do that. I can tell you this. If we're going down, we're going to take as many of them down with us as we can.

"Thank you, that is all."

There was a long silence, which O'Neill broke again. "You've changed."

She nodded in reply. "Colonel Caldwell, I recommend you return to your ship now."

"What about us?" Colonel Carter asked.

Weir shook her head. "It's not your fight."

"The hell it isn't!" O'Neill argued. "We're staying. Right, boys and girls?"

"Yes, sir," replied Carter.

"Yeah," replied Daniel.

Teal'c bowed his head slightly.

"All right, General, I suggest you get to the chair room, in case Major Sheppard doesn't return in time. Colonel, you're familiar with Ancient technology. I'd like you to work with McKay and Zelenka. Teal'c, go with the defensive teams. Doctor Jackson- well, I honestly don't know what to do with you."

"Well, I'd love to look around, but I guess I'll have to settle for searching the Ancient database for something we can use."

"What about my people?" Teyla asked. "Many of them express... concerns over leaving the city of the Ancestors to be destroyed."

"They'll be evacuated with the expedition," Weir replied. "This plan does have a chance of working, this is just in case."

"If it had such a good chance of succeeding, why would you order an evacuation?" Teyla asked, raising an eyebrow.

"You know as well as I do, this probably isn't going to work," Weir answered. "But I don't want to rob people of hope."

Teyla nodded. "I understand."

"Daedalus, I would advise you to depart as soon as possible," Weir said. "Head for the other side of the planet. They shouldn't be able to see you in the shadow."

"With all due respect, doctor, I've been thinking," Caldwell replied, over the radio this time. "If the Daedalus jumps to hyperspace before the nuke goes off, they might be inclined to believe us."

Weir thought about it. "Alright, go for it. If things go south, we'll rendezvous at-" she consulted a galaxy map "-M85-393. Good luck."

"Thank you. General, I would remind you of your command responsibilities, but I know you don't care. Good luck, sir."

"ETA?" Weir asked the scientists.

"One hour, eighteen minutes," Colonel Carter replied.

* * *

_Jumper One_

John Sheppard was, for lack of better words, pissed off. He was so close! He could have shot at the Wraith ships, boarded them, done something! And at the same time, he knew it was suicide. The Wraith armada lumbered uncontested toward Atlantis, not far behind the faster puddle jumper.

Lantea Prime was visible through the front window, a large blue marble. The Daedalus hung in a lazy orbit above the planet, slowly heading for the other side. Sheppard brought the jumper in fast and steep, a situation easily compensated for by the inertial dampeners.

He knew what the plan was, of course, and didn't like it any more than the others did. He couldn't think of anything better, except for flying a jumper loaded with explosives into a Dart bay. Although that was hardly better at all.

Sheppard brought the jumper down carefully through the bay doors, not wanting to do the same thing that crazy bastard DeLoria did. Puddle jumpers were tough, but it would still trash the spacecraft.

"Evacuation complete," he heard Caldwell say on the comm net as he left the jumper.

"Raise the shield," Weir ordered. Sheppard headed down to the control room followed by the two scientists. Seeing them, Weir added, "Welcome back."

After that, they had to wait. It was not fun, mostly because of what they knew they were waiting for. Sheppard remembered what someone had said about combat. Something about long periods of utter boredom interspersed with brief spells of sheer terror. Finally, the wait was over. The Wraith vessels positioned themselves over the city and opened fire.

"They're firing!" Rodney reported rather redundantly.

The impacts against the shield were almost beautiful, except for the fact that they were incredibly lethal. The entire dome was dotted with impacts of the blue energy bolts, which caused small orange bursts in the shield upon impact.

"Well, at least the shield is holding," Sheppard remarked.

"Yes, it's holding under the bombardment, but it's under incredible strain," Rodney replied.

"How long do we have?" Weir asked.

"Days. At this rate, the ZPM will be depleted in a matter of days."

"How can they keep that up?" Sheppard asked.

"Those hive-ships are massively powerful," Carter explained. "Add the cruisers to that. They don't have to sustain full-power full-rate fire to wipe us out."

"We should get moving, then," Weir ordered. "Recall everyone to the gateroom and signal the Daedalus."

About a dozen armoured figures appeared in the gateroom, the remaining military complement of the city. "Prepare to dial the gate in case this doesn't work."

Weir took a deep breath, then nodded. "Do it."

* * *

_AES Daedalus_

As soon as the Wraith ships saw them, several of them broke off and sped toward the Daedalus, opening fire with their weapons. "Time to deployment range?" Caldwell asked.

"Ten seconds, sir!" Major Marks replied. The ship shuddered as the powerful Wraith weapons slammed into their damaged shields. "Five... four... three... two... one... mark!"

"Deploy the warhead!" Caldwell ordered. "Helm, take us into hyperspace."

* * *

_Atlantis_

"Attention all personnel, prepare for detonation flash!" Weir shouted, her voice carried across the communication net. A flick of her wrist darkened her faceplate so much she could barely see out of it. Beside her, Rodney and Radek frantically shut down the few civilian computers they still had running. Doors were shut and several of the expedition members took cover. At this range, if the shield were to fail they would be vaporized, armoured or not.

The flash was brilliant, like a second sun in the sky. It quickly diminished, the nuclear reaction over in a few shakes, or tens of nanoseconds. A mushroom cloud began to form over the city shield, completely encompassing it.

"Rodney?" Weir asked.

"If we switch from shield to cloak before the blast radius diminishes we'll all be vaporized," Rodney replied. "Just five more seconds."

"That was definitely five seconds!" O'Neill said after a pause.

The scientist tapped on Carter's military-grade laptop. "There. We're cloaked."

"Is the city still going to be inhabitable after this?" O'Neill asked.

"What?" Rodney sputtered. "You're asking that _now_?"

"Well I had to ask some time!"

"Yes, of course!" Rodney spat. "Fallout over the city will be negligible."

"I think there's a more important question, did it work?" Weir asked, interrupting them.

"I don't know, they're still scanning us," Zelenka answered.

For the second time, it was a period of tense waiting. O'Neill likened it to a submarine movie, except instead of a submarine, they were inside a ten thousand year old city. And instead of a destroyer, it was a fleet of Wraith ships. And they didn't really have to be quiet. Okay, so it wasn't like a submarine movie at all.

Rodney McKay was the one to break the silence. "The Wraith fleet is breaking orbit. I can't believe it, we've won!"

"Don't be so hasty," Weir cautioned. "Keep the cloak up for now, until we're really sure. That being said, I share your sentiment. We did it."

* * *

_Atlantis - One Week Later_

The senior Atlantis personnel gathered on the pier to see off the mostly repaired Daedalus. Several familiar faces waited there to greet them.

"General O'Neill, SG-1," Weir greeted. "I trust you had a pleasant stay on Atlantis?"

"After the Wraith left, it was all right," O'Neill replied.

"It was really amazing, I mean, this is the city of the Ancients! I wish I could stay longer," Daniel said ruefully.

"We've already been over this," O'Neill said to him.

"I know, but a man can dream, right?"

"I had the opportunity to look over some of the Ancient technology, sir," Carter added. "I think I can solve the power problem that have been plaguing our attempts to establish an intergalactic wormhole. And with the ZPM here, two way gate travel will be possible."

"That's great!" Rodney McKay replied. "Maybe we'll, uh, see each other again."

Sam smiled and said back, "That would be great, Rodney. For professional reasons, of course."

"Yes, right, professional reasons." Well, that shut him up.

"Major Sheppard!" O'Neill called.

"Yes, sir?"

"Congratulations, you're now Lieutenant Colonel Sheppard, official military commander of Atlantis. Don't fuck it up." He handed the new LCol a set of rank insignia and saluted.

"Thank you, sir, I won't." Sheppard said, saluting back.

O'Neill turned to the Athosian leader, reaching out with his hand. He retracted it as Teyla bowed forward in the Athosian gesture, and awkwardly touched his forehead with hers. "On behalf of the Allied Earth Space Forces, Stargate Alliance, and the people of Earth, I offer our friendship and our thanks. God, what a mouthful. Basically, we're officially allies now."

"I, and my people, thank you," Teyla replied, smiling. "We endured many hardships together, and learned many new things. Were it not for your people, we would still live in fear of the Wraith. That time has come to an end."

"Well, glad to see we're appreciated," O'Neill replied.

The next thing General O'Neill did surprised the hell out of everyone around. He pulled the single-grey-star rank insignia off his uniform, leaving everyone wondering who the hell he would give them to. "Atlantis needs a leader," he said, handing them to Weir.

"General, you know I-" Weir replied, but was quickly cut off.

"From this point onwards, Atlantis is a military operation. This comes from up on high. You can relinquish command of the base and I'll go through hell trying to find a replacement, or just take the new title. Your choice."

Weir gingerly took the slip-ons. "But why?"

O'Neill replied, "We're at war. In war there are casualties. You're going to have to get used to that. Atrocities are committed. You're going to have to get used to that, too. This isn't a few recon missions anymore. I'm going to take the fight to the goa'uld, and you're going to take the fight the the Wraith. We both know they can't be allowed to feed on the galaxy at large forever. And we both know that they'll be back. The goa'uld might, too, and there are no doubt bigger, scarier things out there. I have confidence in you. Finish the fight."

Weir was rendered speechless for several moments. "I don't know what to say."

"So say nothing," O'Neill replied. He motioned to his team, and they began heading for the open door on the underside of the Daedalus.

"General," she called. She snapped a shaky and awkward salute. "Thank you."

General O'Neill responded in kind. "Good luck," he said before disappearing.

Brigadier General Elizabeth Weir turned to her people as the Daedalus took off behind them. "We have a mission. Let's get to it."

* * *

And it's a wrap! I'd like to thank everyone who read this story and especially those who commented on it.

At this point, I'm not sure what I'm going to do. I could drop SGD and work on other things, maybe for a while, maybe forever. In addition to the unfinished fics here and on Spacebattles, I have several ideas that haven't been put on metaphorical paper (all my writing is done on a homebuilt Win7, Core i5-2500K, GTX 560 Ti rig and stored on a WD Caviar Black 1TB, backed up onto a Seagate Freeagent USB of the same capacity). I could rewrite Halogate as well. Or I could go back and revise some of SGD, although you'll never see the finished result here.

SGD Season Two. If I do this, I'm dropping the episodic format. I'm not sure if I want to go to a more traditional chaptered story format, or a more TL type one like In The Ashes of Autumn. I'm leaning towards the latter, as it is less work and gets the epic feel across better. I do have a general idea of what I'm going to do for S2, but I'm not sure if it'll be actually good or not. Updates will probably be much less frequent, as I'd rather focus on other things.

Your input is appreciated.


End file.
